Solar Eclipse
by Nightcrawler's Shadow
Summary: Sequal to Tortured Shadows. After everything that happened over the last few months, the X Men thought that things would've died down for a while, too bad they're wrong. Kurtty, Loro Rogue/Surprise No OCs previously titled 'Eclipsed Sunlight'
1. Truth

**THE WEEK BEGINS! Who's ready for the WEEK OF PREMEIRS?! **

**Read my pretties, read! Mwahahaha!**

A/N: The sequel to 'Tortured Shadows', please read that first or none of this will make sense.

This fic is also based _loosely_ on 'X2-X Men United' just so you know, now, on to the story!

Disclaimer: I do not pretend to own X Men: Evolution, or the X Men in general. They all belong to the wonderful minds at Marvel.

**For you to remember from the first fic! Read or you're an idiot!**

**Kurt is older than Rogue, the third oldest in the house after Scott and Jean. Kitty is the youngest, Rogue the second youngest and Evan just younger than Kurt.**

**Ororo and Logan are together, as are Kurt and Kitty, and Jean and Scott.**

**Kurt's parents have found him and he and Kitty have spent a week with them in Germany.**

**Jean spent a week in Hawaii with Scott, his mother and his younger brother. Alex is a mutant, but his powers have not awakened.**

**Rogue, Evan, Ororo and Logan spent the week in Rogue and Logan's home in Canada.**

**Hank is with the X Men in all his furry blue smartness.**

**Kitty is estranged from her parents.**

**If you really don't get something that hints to the first fic, go back and read it.**

oOo

Chapter 1: Truth

Kitty sighed and brushed a hand down the soft grass that blanketed the Wagner's front lawn. She was spending her vacation week with Kurt and his family, and was enjoying every minute of it.

"Guten Tag Katzchen." Kurt flopped down beside her clad in a pale blue button up t shirt and tan shorts.

"Hello Fuzzy." He gave her a quick kiss that still managed to send shivers through her. She sighed, "I can't believe we're leaving today"

He grinned and nodded, "Ja…actually, if I'm not mistaken, zat's Marie and Evan coming up ze path vright now."

She smiled, Kurt's senses had yet to steer them wrong. "Race you." He grinned and fell to all fours and she chased after him, both of them laughing.

Kurt leapt over the gate while Kitty just went through it and they continued down the path until they nearly ran into Spyke and Rogue. Evan yelped as Kitty tackled him but Marie just laughed as she was toppled by 117 pounds of furry, blue, elfin brother.

"It's good ta see ya'll too!" she got out and Kurt climbed off her, helping her up. She smiled; it was still great for her to be able to touch people without fear of hurting them. Plus, she'd finally found out why Kitty had always gushed to her about how soft Kurt's fur was; It felt like velvet and was heaven to her fingertips.

"Logan and Mom sent us up here to get you guys." Evan stated.

Kurt grinned, "Alvright, come on." Kurt led them back up to his house and flipped over the fence and into the lawn. Kitty phased Marie and Evan through, but was unable to continue as Rogue and Spyke halted, staring at Kurt. Kitty did a double take before shaking her head. After a week, everything that Kurt did now was completely normal.

The cottage had been designed with long poles sticking out at strategic points on the house, and Kurt could grab them and flip from each one with ease, which was what he was doing now until he reached an open window at the top and entered the house.

"Did he just?"

Kitty giggled and tugged them along, "Yep."

The three entered the house to find Anna Wagner cleaning the kitchen. "Guten Tag." She smiled and took off her rubber gloves and came over. "Marie, eet's vunderful to see you." She wrapped the Goth girl in a hug.

"It's good to see you again, Aunt Anna." Marie had decided that seeing as her Dad didn't have any siblings (that he knew of) Kurt's parents could be her aunt and uncle. They certainly liked having a niece.

"Hey Mrs. Vagner, good to see you." Evan was pulled into a hug by the German woman.

"Eet's good to see you too Evan."

"I have our bags." Kurt appeared in a cloud of black smoke.

"Cool, 'cause my Dad was eager to get back to tha mansion."

Kitty gave her a look, "Did he not sleep or something last night?" Rogue shook her head.

"Vell, in zat case. I'll send you a letter in a few days." Kurt said his goodbyes to his parents in German, placing a kiss on his mother's cheek before the quartet headed down the path towards the X Jet, Kurt flipping on his image inducer as they went.

As they walked through town, they drew a few looks; admittedly, they stood out thanks to the style of their clothing.

Kurt smiled to himself but drew back quickly when he walked into someone. "Oh, sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." He apologized in German. He looked up slightly at the man and felt a shiver of fear run through him.

"Who're you?" the man sneered

~_Oh God, not him, anyone but him. ~_

Connor looked down at Kurt like he was a bug, "I haven't seen you around here before."

Kurt took a breath; he wasn't a little kid anymore. "Why would you? You kill young children for fun, no need to take notice of new people in town." He hissed.

"What are you talking about?!" the man glared at Kurt, who shrugged, but his eyes burned with unresolved anger.

"Oh, nothing, I just heard how you burned a child at the stake a few years ago."

"A child," he scoffed, "I helped rid this town of an unholy demon." He stated and Kurt glared at him.

"Not exactly." He muttered and quickly pressed a button on his watch that caused the hologram to flicker for a second before disappearing. "If I were you, I'd be _very_ afraid." He stated and pushed past the blubbering man. Kitty, Evan and Marie following close behind, having a slight idea over what just happened.

"And that was…" Marie trailed off.

"Somezing I've vanted to do for a vhile." Kurt smirked.

oOo

"Welcome back everyone!" the Professor rolled out to meet them as they disembarked the X Jet. The girls all ran foreword, smiles on their faces as they placed kisses on the Professor's head.

"Good to be back Professor." Kitty chimed before grabbing her bag and following the other two girls upstairs, all of them giggling.

Kurt chuckled as the Professor turned slightly red. "Zey vere plotting over ze flight." Charles gave Kurt a smile as the blue mutant passed by him with his own bag. A week with just his parents and Kitty had caused a few changes in the seventeen year old. One of which was that he was wearing brighter clothing without any black, something that seemed to match his personality better.

"Don't look at me; I had nothing to do with it." Ororo stated as she swept by, kissing the Professor's cheek as she went.

"Should I be jealous?" Logan asked with a grin.

"I do not believe so, my friend." Charles laughed. ~_It's good to have them back. ~_

oOo

A/N: Short, but opens a whole new pallet for me to create hell in!

**Next up is: Mama Rogue.**

Summary: Anna Marie would never forget her visit to Germany when she was eighteen, for several reasons. One, once you went to Germany, it was hard to forget it, and two, she became a mother.

Another crossover of sorts between the X Men movies and X Men: Evolution. And by crossover, I again mean that it shares similarities between both mediums. Alternate universe, of course. Look for it tomorrow, I promise much cuteness!


	2. Loyalty

Chapter 2: Loyalty

Disclaimer: I do not own the X Men

A/N: Enjoy! There's a poll up to determine next week's update, please vote!

Marie smiled as she walked towards her friends at their regular lunch table outside. She was in a good mood so far today, she'd gotten a good mark on her English test, and she was wearing a slight mid-drift bearing black tank top and a pair of black jeans that were held up with several chains and some black and green high tops, gaining many complements from people. She nearly laughed when one of the jocks fell out of their seat as he tried to turn his head enough to watch her pass. She'd woken up to Kurt and Kitty jumping on her for the first time in a week, which was nice, strangely enough. Her Dad had found her a new Gothic novel called 'Raven' and it had already captivated her. Now she was headed to Lunch to hang out with her friends.

Her good mood was put on hold, though, when a certain platinum haired mutant sauntered up. Well actually, he wasn't sauntering for once, in fact, he looked quite down.

"Um, hi, can I talk to you?" Pietro asked timidly and she raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

He sighed, "I just need to talk to one of the X Men, and I'm too scared to ask any of your other friends. Um, Shadowcat would probably be easy to talk to, but after what her boyfriend did to Toad, well…" he trailed off and Rogue sighed.

"Fahne, make it quick though." He gave her a thankful grin and he led her over to a deserted part of the school grounds.

"I need to talk with your Professor." He blurted out.

"Again, why?"

He bit his lip, "Well, you see…I have a little sister; she's my twin, actually. But the thing is…my Dad put her in an asylum when she was a kid because she couldn't control her powers." He looked up at her with pained eyes. "She was only eight, and I let her down. I'm her older brother and her twin, I should have done something but I didn't!" he nearly yelled, several years of suppressed emotion coming to a head.

Marie placed a hand on his shoulder, "Alright, calm down. How does this all tie in with ya'll wantin' to talk with tha Professor?"

He sighed and took a breath, "I think he might be able to help her control her powers so she can get out of the asylum." He admitted. "Or, maybe, at least find a way for me to see her." His eyes were so sad and so vulnerable then, that Marie's breath actually caught.

She nodded, "Ah'll see what Ah can do."

He smiled brightly and hugged her, "Thank you!" he said earnestly before pulling away, looking slightly embarrassed.

Pietro pulled out a piece of paper and quickly scribbled something down on it. "Here, call me, even if it's to tell me nothing can be done." His voice was pained at the last bit, but he kept a thankful smile on his face. "And thanks again, Rogue."

He walked off and Marie stood there clutching the piece of paper before blowing out. ~_What have I gotten myself into? ~_

oOo

"Come in Marie." She nearly jumped as the Professor's voice drifted out the door. She sighed and pushed open the mahogany door to enter Charles' study.

"Now, what is it you wanted to speak with me about?" he smiled at her as she sat down across from him.

"Pietro Maximoff approached me at school; he wants to talk to you."

He nodded, "Did he say what he wished to speak with me about?"

She nodded, "He wants to talk to you about his sister."

"Ah, Wanda, yes, I was hoping that was the case." He came around his desk to place a hand on her shoulder. "Please call him and let him know that he can come and speak with me about whenever he wishes." Rogue nodded and stood.

She exited the study and headed towards the phone. Pulling out Pietro's number she dialed and waited for him to answer.

"Yo, Brotherhood Boarding House."

Rogue grimaced and rolled her eyes when she heard Toad answer. ~_Great.~ _her eyes then lit up as an idea came to her. "Yeah, like, I need to talk with, like Pietro." She giggled as she spoke in a high, girly voice.

She heard Toad exhale, "Yeah, hang on."

She smirked, ~_Worked like a charm. ~_

"Hello?" Pietro's voice came over the line, he sounded almost hopeful.

"Pietro, it's me." There was a pause, but she heard a rush of air as Pietro zipped to a different room, "Rogue, seriously?"

She sighed, "Yeah, yeah, calm down speedy. The Professor says you can come and talk with him whenever ya'll want."

"Thank-you! I'll-be-right-over!" she heard a click and sighed before running down to the entry way.

Not five seconds after she got there, there was a knock on the door. She opened it to see Pietro standing there with a real, honest to God smile.

She sighed –she was doing that a lot today-, "Follow me." She led him directly up to the Professor's study and knocked.

"Come in."

Pietro took a shaky breath and Marie felt a stab of empathy.

"It'll be fahne." She stated, giving him a quick pat on the shoulder before turning and walking down the hallway, leaving the speed mutant to enter the office.

oOo

"Have a seat, Mr. Maximoff. You wish to speak with me about your sister?"

Pietro nodded nervously and sat. "I-I just want to know, if it's at all possible for you to help her." He said quietly.

Charles nodded, "Actually, I have been having regular lessons with Wanda." Pietro looked up sharply. "She is progressing, but slowly...I understand there's something else you wish to ask." He laced his fingers together and Pietro gulped.

"Could you, maybe, arrange a meeting for me to see her?"

Charles thought for a moment before nodding with a small smile. "I would be glad to.

oOo

_Mystique cackled as Azazel held Kitty over the side of the temple. Shadowcat screamed as he let her fall…_

Kurt lurched up in his bed, panting for breath. He whipped his head from side to side before seeing he was at the Institute, in his room, and not with his birth parents. He fell back with a half groan, half sigh. ~_Typical.~_ He climbed out of bed, trying to shake his dream away by thinking of something else...but every time his mind went back to watching Kitty fall to her death.

He sighed again and pulled a shirt on before bamfing down to the empty kitchen. He traveled around the room gathering ingredients when he heard someone enter.

"Hey Fuzzy!" Kitty yawned and Kurt grinned, all thoughts about his dream suddenly vanishing somehow.

~_Guess the best medicine is seeing her alive. ~_ He mused.

"Morning Katzchen. Are you hungry?"

She yawned again, "Starving."

He grinned, "Good 'cause I'm cooking." His girlfriend perked up.

"Pancakes?" she asked hopefully. He laughed and grinned while Kitty silently cheered. She'd learnt over Spring Vacation, that Kurt could make the most _amazing_ pancakes on the face of the Earth. And it was quite possible she would kill for them.

The smell of the pancakes caused the kitchen to fill quite quickly and Kurt quite happily dished some up for everyone.

"Wait...you can cook?" Jean looked confused and Kurt chuckled, expertly flipping a pancake.

"How else am I supposed to feed myself in the middle of the night?" Scott chuckled at that and gave his girlfriend a quick kiss.

oOo

A/N: I'm wondering if anyone can guess the future events in this story that the summary doesn't give away…

Read, review, and show some love!


	3. Four Halves

Chapter 3: Four Halves

Disclaimer: I'm still in school and work as a waitress, what do you think?

Charles rolled into the near empty gray cell like room; Wanda sat in the corner, her black, lifeless hair hanging around her pale face in a thick, messy curtain.

"Good afternoon Wanda." The girl looked up, before looking away. "I have brought someone here with me today, but you have to promise to control yourself." Wanda gave a small nod and the door opened.

"Wanda?" her head shot up, and anger blazed in her eyes as her brother stepped into the room.

Pietro caught sight of his little sister and his heart clenched. Taking no mind of the death glare she was giving him, he ran over and enveloped her in a hug. "Wanda, I'm so, _so_ sorry. You have no idea how much I've missed you. I don't, I don't..." he trailed off unable to continue as his body was wracked with sobs.

Wanda sat completely still, her mind racing. ~_Pietro never cries. ~_

"God Wanda, if I had known, I would have never…He convinced me it was for your own good, but I shouldn't have let him. You're my little sister, and I'm supposed to take care of you. I failed and I'm so sorry. I love you, I love you so damn much." He hugged her tightly before finally letting go, realizing that she hadn't moved an inch.

She looked her older brother over, his words ringing in her mind, _I love you._ She felt tears start to fall from her own eyes and the barriers she'd set up over the years crumbled as she threw herself in her big brother's arms, crying for the first time since the night she'd been brought to the asylum. He hugged her back like she was the only thing keeping him there.

"I'm so sorry Wan."

She gave a watery giggle at the nickname, "I love you too, Pie." He hugged her so tightly then that she was sure she'd pass out from lack of oxygen.

"Pietro, Wanda..." the Professor's calm voice brought them back to the present and she looked over her brother's shoulder, having to stand on her tip-toes to do so, to see him sitting there, his eyes sparkling.

"Wanda, I am very proud of you. I know how angry you were at your brother, and I am glad you've forgiven him."

Pietro looked down at her in shock, but with hope hiding in his eyes, "Y-you really forgive me." She nodded and he hugged her again.

"Wanda, I told you that you've always had a place at my Institute, that is, if you want it." She didn't even have to think about it before she nodded furiously.

"Um…Professor, sir? Is it _possible_ for me to come as well?" Pietro felt his nerves come rushing back, but for a different reason this time.

The old man smiled though, "You are quite welcome, Pietro."

The platinum haired boy relaxed and grinned. "Thank you." He said sincerely.

"Well, I do believe I'll leave you two to get reacquainted while I make preparations for Wanda to join us." The black haired girl smiled, for the first time in years and hugged her brother tightly, feeling safe for the first time in a while.

"I missed you." She said quietly.

He pushed her hair away from her face and smiled, "I missed you too."

oOo

Kitty smirked and jumped on her roommate from behind.

"Yelp! Kitty!" Marie twisted, giving her friend a glare. "What was that for?"

Kitty smiled, "Come on, you are coming swimming with us!"

Marie cocked an eyebrow and shook her head. "Uh…no."

"Come _on_ you wouldn't before, because of your skin, but you can control it now. It's time to have some fun! Now, get on your swim suit."

Rogue sighed, but decided to humor her friend and started digging through her drawers to find her black, once piece.

"Uh, Kitty, Ah can't find it."

Kitty giggled and held up a bag, "That's because I got you a new one."

Marie stared at her friend. "What?"

Kitty rolled her eyes. "You needed something new, now put it on!" she tossed the bag to the Goth and grabbed her own bathing suit to get changed in the bathroom.

Marie groaned and opened the bag, but then a grin came over her face as she pulled the suit out. Kitty had basically gotten her the same suit. A black one piece, but backless and the sides were scooped out so she showed more skin than before. "Alright…"

oOo

Kitty pulled Rogue by the hand down to the pool where Kurt and Evan were. The two stopped for a minute just to watch 'their' boys. The guys were wearing swim trunks, Evan in gray and blue while Kurt was sticking to black and red.

"Hey guys!" Kitty called, the two boys turned and their jaws promptly dropped. Kitty was wearing a pink two piece, the top like a tank top that showed off her stomach and then some short shorts like bottoms. Rogue was in her new black one piece and showing more skin than the guys were used to.

"What do you think?" Kitty questioned, laying her towel on a pool chair.

Evan chuckled and hit his friend's back in an attempt to get Kurt breathing. "Well, I can't speak for Kurt, but I think you two look great." Kurt's tail lashed and grabbed Evan's ankle, pulling him under the water for a second before the boy surfaced spluttering for breath. Kurt shrugged and bamfed out of the pool.

Kitty admired Kurt for a second when he reappeared. His fur was slicked down against his skin thanks to the water, revealing the well toned muscles of his that were hardly ever seen. He came over and did a quick circle around the girls nodding occasionally.

"I am in agreement with Evan." The blue mutant stated before placing a quick kiss on Kitty's cheek and smirking.

"Kurt," Kitty started in a warning tone, "What are thinking?"

He grinned and winked at Evan who hopped out of the pool to come and stand behind Marie.

"What are ya'll plannin'?"

Evan chuckled, "Nothing Rogue." He sang but the boys shared a look and grabbed the girls around their waists.

Kurt picked up his girlfriend and walked over to the deep end of the pool.

"Don't you dare."

He grinned and tossed her in the pool while Evan did the same with Rogue. The girls glared at the two of them when they surfaced.

"Jerks." Rogue muttered.

Kurt shrugged and dove into the water, coming around Kitty to grab her around the waist and hoist her up on his shoulder.

She gave a small scream but then laughed. "Okay, okay, put me down!"

Kurt smiled and carefully put her back down, but kept his arms around her waist, loving the feeling of her skin against his fur. She smiled and just like that the two were off in their own little world.

Rogue sighed, "Why do we put up with this again?" she asked Evan and jumped on a floating, blow up chair.

Evan grinned, "Because they're our best friends and totally deserve it?"

Marie sighed "Ah hate being a good person." Evan rolled his eyes and splashed her.

A few hours later, the four were all lounging around the pool; Rogue had yet to leave her small floating island, while Evan chose to lay on a blow up mattress. The 'lovebirds' as Evan had dubbed them, were laying side by side on one of the pool chairs in the sun. Kurt's fur glistened in the sunlight and Kitty sighed occasionally from her place lying next to him.

"Wow, you guys are _really_ active right now." Jean stated as she came out, wearing a light sun dress and carrying a few books, obviously having chosen to study out in the sun.

Kurt grinned, "Hey, vhen you vant to do nothing, you do _nothing_…it's actually quite exhausting."

Marie rolled her eyes. "Don't listen to him; he's on a Kitty high."

"Hey!"

Jean giggled, along with Kitty.

"Well, have fun you guys." Jean left then to go sit under a tree and spread out her books.

"We probably _should_ do something." Evan stated.

"I _am_ doing something." Kurt replied and Evan raised an eyebrow even if the blue mutant couldn't see it through his closed eyelids.

"And that something would be?"

"Ignoring you."

oOo

Pietro and Wanda followed close behind the Professor as they approached the mansion. Wanda looking fairly impressed, while Pietro jumped at the smallest noises.

~_I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to throw up and then I'm going. To. Die. ~_

The doors opened and the Professor mentally called for everyone to come to the main entrance.

"Everyone should be here a few..." Kurt appeared with Kitty, Evan and Rogue in a cloud of black smoke while Jean and Scott came down the stairs. "Seconds." He finished with a chuckle.

"What's up Professor?" Scott questioned before everyone caught sight of who it was with their mentor. "Quicksilver?" the X Men went into defensive positions. Kurt crouched in front of Kitty, his fangs bared, Evan had several spikes sticking out of his arms having also pushed Rogue behind him, and Scott had pushed Jean behind him and had a hand to his shades.

"Everyone, please calm down." The Professor ordered. "Pietro had chosen to join the X Men, no need to worry."

Everyone paused for a few seconds to absorb this information before leaving their fighting positions.

"Um...if you say so Professor." Kitty seemed to be the only one who could speak through their shock.

Charles smiled and nodded, "And this young woman is his sister, Wanda, she will also be joining us." Everyone's gaze was brought to the female mutant and she felt a fleeting wish that she was dressed in something nicer than a long sleeved black shirt and baggy jeans. Her hair was also an absolute mess and she wished she could actually do something about that.

She looked up and saw that there were two mutants grinning in hers and her brother's direction: the blue fuzzy one and the short brunette girl. The two came forward and the Professor smiled.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you." The brunette held her hand out and Wanda shook it carefully. "I'm Kitty."

Wanda gave her a small smile and Kurt held his hand out to her, "Kurt, and I von't be offended if you don't shake my hand." he gave her a fanged grin but she shook his hand as well.

Kurt turned to Pietro, "Don't flirt vith my girlfriend and I von't hurt you." He said with a grin and held his hand out.

Pietro visibly relaxed and took Nightcrawler's hand, "Deal."

Evan came up, "You and me, on the basketball court and no powers."

Pietro actually smiled at that, "Sure, if you're up for getting your butt kicked."

Evan smirked, "In your dreams, Pietro." Wanda smiled; Pietro had told her all about his 'relationship' with the X Men, she was just glad they hadn't been attacked when they walked in.

"You look about mah size, how about we get you some fresh clothes." Rogue came up and Wanda gave her a much more relaxed smile.

"That'd be great, thanks."

"Come on." Kitty took her hand and all but dragged her up the stairs, from behind her she heard the Professor inform the boys on where she and Pietro would be staying.

"Wanda will have the bedroom next to Marie and Kitty, Pietro I believe you would be comfortable rooming with Evan?"

Pietro nodded, "Sure, why not?"

Evan grinned and slung an arm over the platinum haired boy's shoulder and another around Kurt. "Awesome!"

Kurt laughed and ducked out of the hold. "Last one to the court has to do dishes!" he disappeared in a cloud of sulphuric smoke.

"Hey!" Pietro dashed off, going at what would be considered a normal pace for everyone else so it would be a fair contest between him and Evan. "Hurry up!" he called.

"See ya Professor!" the boys disappeared, not to be seen until dinner.

oOo

Wanda was dragged into Kitty and Rogue's bedroom and was shocked by how strange it was. One half of the room was dark and gothic, with Nightwish and Evanescence posters on the walls, while the other side was bright and cheerful. The walls had posters for Carrie Underwood and Avril Lavigne, with pastel coloured sheets and if Wanda's eyes weren't deceiving her, a photo of Kitty and Kurt on the bedside table.

"Welcome to our domain!" Marie declared before starting through her closet. Kitty was giving her a once over and promptly pushed her in front of the mirror and into a seat.

"Be right back."

Rogue looked after her in confusion before shrugging and continuing her dig through her closet. "What are your favorite colors? Ah want ya in something you'll lahke."

Wanda gave a small smile, "Anything red."

"Got it!"

Kitty came back through the wall with a towel which was laid on the floor at the back of the chair and a pair of sharp looking scissors.

"Where did ya'll get those?"

Kitty smirked, "Kurt." Marie looked confused.

"According to him, haircuts are hard to come by when you're covered in blue fur." She giggled and put the scissors down to pick up a brush and attack Wanda's hair.

"Now, do just want me to shape it up, or do you want it shorter?"

Wanda grinned, "Whatever works for you, I honestly don't care, just don't make me look terrible."

Kitty nodded. "Got it, now sit back, relax, and let me go to work."

After several minutes where Wanda never opened her eyes once Kitty set down the scissors with a sigh. "Done."

Wanda opened her eyes slowly and gasped. "Kitty...I love it." Her hair had been cut short and styled messily, showing off her face and bright blue eyes. "Well done, Kat."

Kitty giggled and smiled.

"Great! And I found tha perfect outfit." Marie came over and pushed a scarlet and black ensemble into the girl's hands. "Now get dressed!"

oOo

The girls came down later that night to hear the sounds of good natured bickering coming from the rec. Room. Entering, they saw that Evan and Pietro were the cause of the noise.

"Hey, where's Kurt?" Kitty looked around for her elusive boyfriend.

"Blue said something about peace and quiet." Pietro supplied before catching sight of his sister, "Wow...y-you guys...wow."

The girls all smiled and laughed at Quicksilver's expression.

"So, I take it they did a good job?" Wanda questioned, Pietro nodded wordlessly. It was true; Rogue had dug out a three quarter sleeved red shirt a pair of tight black pants that had several rips in the knees and a pair of black combat boots. Wanda now looked like a regular teenager instead of a girl who'd just escaped Hell.

"Well, in that case, I'm going to go look for him." Kitty dashed out into the hall and both Evan and Rogue rolled their eyes.

"What?" Wanda questioned, looking confused.

"Let's just put it this way; those two are hardly ever apart and completely in love. It's almost scary actually." Evan groaned.

"So, we're all going to be dancing at their wedding in the future?" Wanda asked with a smile and Rogue nodded.

"Probably."

oOo

A/N: Feel glad I actually posted this, I've had a _very_ long week. Add a few break downs over failing friendships and you get a very exhausted, very stressed and emotionally broken Shadow. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go breakdown and sob into a fluffy pillow.

Reviews keep people from hitting other people. (I know, I working on it)


	4. Admission

Chapter 4: Admission

Disclaimer: Hello? Anybody there? Is anyone even reading this or have you all given up on me?

Kurt sighed staring up at his ceiling, his mind, as always, floating to 'his Katzchen'. He chuckled to himself when he thought that a year ago today; he'd been in a church, by himself, and one of the most unhappy beings on the planet.

Someone suddenly knocked on his door causing him to be shocked from his thoughts. He leapt from the bed and opened the door to reveal Pietro and Evan.

"Morning, so are you joining us for a game of Mutant Ball, or staying in your room all day?"

Kurt grinned, "I'll be right down, give me a minute." His friends nodded and headed down the hall as Kurt closed the door. "Life must go on." He murmured as he pulled on a pair of black shorts and a t-shirt.

Bamfing down to the basketball court he found the other two X Men boys were already there and shooting hoops. With a chuckled he fell to all fours and ran to swipe the ball away from Pietro before taking an acrobatic leap to the net and dunking it.

"Score one for ze Fuzzy Dude!" he proclaimed as he dropped to the ground, unofficially starting the game.

"Not for long my friend." Pietro ran and captured the ball and for the next hour or so, the boys were stuck battling each other, forgetting to keep track and laughing at each other when one of them fell down.

oOo

"What about this?" Kitty stepped out of the dressing room in a knee length navy skirt and a long sleeved white shirt.

"I like it." Wanda chimed.

"Yeah, but it's not as nice as tha first one." Rogue added. The girls were shopping and were currently in one of Kitty's stores, as they had already hit Wanda and Marie's.

"Okay." Kitty stepped back into the change room and got back into the first outfit, a backless, dark purple halter top and a slightly shorter, flowing black skirt.

"Yeah, that one's perfect, and it'll drive Kurt crazy!"

Kitty giggled, Marie and Wanda were insanely supportive of hers and Kurt's relationship, and they proved it plenty of times, but that didn't stop them from teasing her mercilessly.

"Oh hush up!" she called as she pulled on her regular clothes.

"So, what about you two, any guys you want to drive crazy?" She questioned as she paid for her new clothing.

Wanda shook her head as they stepped out of the store. "Yeah my personal add is fabulous. Can't you just see it? Single sixteen year old girl with weird powers seeking relationship with cute boy who doesn't judge that she lived in an asylum for part of her life." She said sarcastically.

"Relax." Marie playfully hit her with one of her bags.

"So what about you Rogue, who're you interested in?" Wanda questioned.

Marie blushed; there actually _was_ someone who'd been catching her attention.

"Oh, that face means you're hiding something! Spill Marie!" Kitty commanded.

"Really it's nothin'." Wanda and Kitty both made an expression that said, 'Yeah and we're the Queens of England'. "Guys…" when they didn't stop staring her down she gave a half sigh-half moan and nodded. "Fahne, but only if we get something to snack on."

"Frozen yogurt it is!"

Several minutes later they were seated in a quieter part of the mall, each with a frozen yogurt and both Wanda and Kitty were waiting impatiently for Marie to start.

"Okay, first you have to _promise_ not to tell him and second, you can't laugh, or kill me." Both of the girls nodded their consent. "It's, well, it's…Pietro."

There was silence.

"Seriously?" Rogue looked away.

"Rogue, he's completely in _love_ with you!" the Scarlet Witch couldn't get the elated smile off her face.

"What?"

"I'm his _twin_ you don't think we talk?"

Kitty giggled into her hand. "It's true; I've seen him staring at you."

Marie let a small smile on her face. "Really?"

"Yeah! But you _have_ to tell us, when did it all start?"

Marie laughed, "Well, I guess it started when he came to me asking for help to see Wanda…"

oOo

"Seriously, what's going on?" Kurt and Evan were currently interrogating Pietro, whom had lost focus when the girls had come out to sit by the pool, which happened to be quite close to the court. Getting annoyed that their fast friend wasn't paying attention; they had proceeded to drag him off the court and away from the girls.

"Nothing really!" on the contrary, it was a certain Goth in a black two piece that had captured his attention and he was worried what her half-demon older brother would do to him.

"Yes, because you just suddenly lose focus." Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Okay, I give I'll tell you just…please don't kill me." He said in small voice and Kurt cocked an eyebrow.

"Fine, I promise."

"Well…I like Rogue." He winced, waiting for Kurt to blow up.

"Really?" he nodded, his eyes barely open. "That's awesome!"

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, _what_?" Evan was giving his normally overprotective friend a look of absolute confusion. "Jean isn't controlling your mind, is she?"

Kurt chuckled and shook his head. "'Course not. It's just; I think she likes you too. And the plus side is, I actually like and trust you." He gave his still stunned friend a grin.

"Seriously?" Quicksilver stared at his friend to try and see if he was lying, but apparently, the blue mutant was completely sincere. "So…it'd be alright if I asked her out sometime?"

Kurt nodded, "Sure, but if you hurt her, I'll hunt you down and kill you…well after Logan rips you limb from limb." He said it with a smile, but his eyes were serious.

"I swear, I would _never_ hurt her."

"See _this_ is why I trust you."

"Yeah that and I value my life."

oOo

Rogue and Kitty looked up when there was a knock on the door. "Come in!" Pietro opened the door with a grin.

"Hey!" he greeted.

"Hey, what's up?" Kitty stood from her bed.

"I just need to talk with Marie for a second."

Kitty smiled, she and Kurt talked too, "No problem, I'll just go see if I can find Kurt." As she passed her friend she whispered in his ear, "Good luck." Pietro looked after her in shock and she winked.

Pietro rolled his eyes ~_Kurt. ~_ And stepped into the room, closing the door behind him.

"Hey Marie, can I ask you something?"

The Goth sat up. "Uh sure, Pietro, what's up?"

He found himself fidgeting. "Well, I was wondering, if you know, if you're not busy or anything, that _maybe_ you'd like to go out some time…with me?" ~_Great going, Pietro! You sound like an absolute dork! ~_

"Y-you're asking meh out?"

He nodded, fighting the urge to bolt and strangle Kurt and Evan for saying this was a good idea.

"Um, sure, you know," Marie started to say, he couldn't help but notice that she flipped her hair. "You know what, screw it. I'd _love_ to." She said with a happy smile and he released a breath he'd been holding.

"Great, so how about tomorrow?"

she nodded, "Cool with me."

He grinned, "I'll pick you up at six?" she nodded and smiled and he grinned before leaving the room. He closed the door and breathed out in relief before jumping and punching the air before running outside to do a few victory laps.

In the bedroom, Rogue let an elated smiled come to her face before she started giggling and fell onto her bed, consumed by happy laughter.

oOo

Kurt placed a warm kiss on Kitty's lips as he held her from behind. They were standing out on his balcony, watching the sunset. They had also laughed when they saw Pietro running around at an insane speed, even for him.

"I guess she said yes." Kurt chuckled.

"Mm, so, what are your sleeping arrangements for tonight?" Kurt's breath tickled her ear. She smiled; she'd taken to sneaking into Kurt's room in the middle of the night. It was nice sleeping near him, and _very_ nice when it was too hot for him to wear a shirt.

"I think I'll stay here. I quite like my furry blue pillow." Kurt chuckled and hugged her tightly as the sun set, causing the blue ocean to turn to a fiery orange.

oOo

Wanda fiddled with a blanket as she stared at the ceiling, she bored and having an annoying case of insomnia. With a sigh, she stood and pulled on her robe before carefully tip-toeing down the hall. She passed Kitty and Rogue room, a quick peek through the slightly ajar door revealed that Rogue was the only one in there.

She smiled, she was actually quite glad Kitty wasn't there. She opened the door more and crept inside, silently shutting it behind her. Using stealth she hadn't known she had, she made her way over to Kitty's bed and crawled under the covers. Ever since she was little, she'd always slept better in the same room as someone else. It probably had something to do with being a twin or something, but that was just her guess.

She sighed softly, her eyes suddenly much heavier as she drifted off to sleep.

oOo

Logan, as always, was doing his nightly patrol. So far, he'd found everything to be quite normal. Kitty was missing, which was code for she was in Kurt's room with him. Evan and Pietro were freakishly in sync with their snoring (when one breathed in the other breathed out) Wanda had once again, made her way into someone else's bedroom. Ororo was in their room (they'd made it official that they were dating and he had a few plans that he as hoping to carry out fairly soon) Marie was sleeping peacefully. Jean was in her room, alone with her dreams, the same as Scott. Everything was as it should be, so why was that putting him on edge?

"Hey, coming back to bed anytime soon?" Ororo drifted up behind him.

"Yeah, I was nearly done."

"Okay, what's wrong?"

He smirked, because the Wolverine never grinned; "Now why does somethin' have ta be wrong?"

"You have that look on your face." She smiled and leaned up to kiss his cheek. "Now what's up?"

He shook his head. "It's really nothing but that's just it. Since when have things gone _this_ smoothly?"

Ororo sighed, "I know, but we just have to stay alert, everything will be fine."

He shook his head slightly, "I hope you're right, 'Ro. I don't think any of us could bear it if…"

"If something happened to one of us." She finished.

"You remember what Kitty was like when Kurt disappeared, and the whole Azazel mess. If something like that happened again, but to _Kitty_ I don't even want to _think_ about how Kurt would react." Logan nearly shuddered.

"I don't want to think about what would happen if _Marie_ disappeared." Ororo whispered.

Logan froze and she continued, "We _all_ have someone who is like our life support. For you it's Marie, for me, Evan. Pietro has Wanda, Kurt had Kitty. Scott has Jean and the Professor-"

"Charles has us all." Logan finished with a grin.

Ororo smiled, "I guess he does…now are you coming back to bed?" he grinned and swept her into his arms.

"I didn't know you missed me that much."

oOo

A/N: I know, I know! This took way too long! I was having some problems with it, eventually I just decided: screw it! And deleted the entire chapter that was before this (it was just a filler and not even two pages long; plain sad honestly)

My hand is healing! So yay! (also, thank Advil) unfortunately I don't have much time to write these days because it seems that I'm doing nothing but working or sleeping (or obsessively watching Rookie Blue, NCIS and True Blood)

I hope I still have some readers, so please review.


	5. Proposal

Chapter 6: Proposal

Disclaimer: No! Damn it! I don't own the X Men, why do you keep reminding me? Why? (Continues mindless screaming until men in white lab coats with giant butterfly nets and a large needle enter room)

Chapter dedicated to: blackrose5242, writer of some freaking AWESOME Loro/Rolo stories!

P.S. This chappie was written a long time ago, which is why it doesn't seem as…polished (?) as some of my other stories.

"Hey Elf! Get over here; I've got a favor to ask."

Kurt left his place on the couch, giving Kitty a quick kiss as he did so and followed Logan down the hall. "Vhat's up Herr Logan?" Kurt perched on the back of a chair.

"I need your help in preparing a few things, and I _need_ you to keep it a secret from _everyone_."

Kurt nodded, "Of course, wait...this isn't dangerous is it? Of life threatening, and if I help you, people aren't going to kill me?"

Logan chuckled. "No, Elf, nothing like that...I'm going to propose to 'Ro."

"Vhat!" Kurt fell off the back of the chair to land on the ground with a semi-soft 'thump' thanks to the thick, oriental carpet.

"I'm going to propose to 'Ro, but I need your help." Logan waited patiently for Kurt to go back to normal.

"Um, wow." Hey leaned on the chair, not quite believing what he was hearing. "Uh, okay, but vhat do you need me for?"

"Well for one, you can keep everyone occupied and out of the gardens Saturday night."

Kurt nodded, "Easy enough."

"And," Logan sighed, "You don't have any more experience with this sort thing than me, but I need help pickin' a ring."

Kurt cocked an eyebrow before smiling. "I'd be honored to help you, Herr Logan, and I promise, I von't tell anyone."

"You know you'll accidently let it slip to Kitty."

Kurt winced. "In my defense, she has some incredible..._talents_ that can get _anything_ from me."

Logan laughed. "Alright Elf. Come on, I only have a few days to put all this together."

Kurt grinned. "I'm right behind you!" he bamfed appearing on Logan's shoulders. "Well, actually, I'm sitting on you, but you get the idea."

"You plannin' on staying there?"

Kurt smirked, "Nein." The bamfed them both down to the garage where he jumped down. "Just long enough to do zat."

Logan shook his head and sighed, "Let's go, I'm driving." Kurt jumped into the passenger seat of a black Toyota.

An hour or so later, the two X Men, one of which was cloaked by a hologram, were at a jewelry store in New York.

"Alvright, do you have an idea vhat kind of ring Ororo vould like?"

Logan sighed irritably and ran a hand through his hair as he looked over the display. "No."

Kurt sighed in slight defeat, "Okay..." a look of inspiration came over his face and he signaled one of the store clerks. "Excuse me, miss, vould you happen to have any rings with gems that may be able to reflect ze veather?" the woman nodded and left for a few minutes to come back with several rings.

"Vell, Logan, vhat do you zink?"

Logan looked at the rings and a smile came to his face. "Elf, you're a genius."

Kurt's grin widened and went over to the other side of the store, his eyes searching, Saturday was also Valentine's Day, and he had a plan set out for him and Kitty. He got a grin on his face. "Excuse me, sir. Can I please see that ring?" With great effort he kept his accent to a minimum. The man nodded and pulled the mentioned ring out. Kurt smiled, "I'll take it."

On the other side of the room Logan surveyed the rings that had been brought out and finally found one he liked. "That one's perfect."

The two X Men left the store a few minutes later with their purchases, Kurt having explained what his plan for Kitty was. Logan had been stunned before grabbing the elf in a headlock.

"Knew you had it in ya Elf!" Kurt had laughed and they had exchanged the details of their plans on the drive back home.

"Thanks for the help Elf. How'd you know where that store was anyway?"

"Vhere do you zink I got Keety's Christmas gift?" Kurt bamfed away leaving a grinned Logan to head upstairs and hide the ring from his, hopefully, future fiancé.

oOo

"Happy Valentine's Day Marie." Pietro greeted Rogue when she came downstairs. She smiled and took the single, black rose from his hand.

"Thank you." She kissed his cheek and took his hand as he escorted her to the kitchen. Their relationship was going great so far, and she was only glad her Dad actually approved. Apparently, Kurt not ripping her boyfriend to shreds with his fangs was a good sign.

Kurt and Kitty were already in the kitchen when they got there and Marie smirked when she saw Kurt kept shooting Kitty looks that had her blushing.

"No flirting while you cook Blue!" Kurt laughed and flipped a pancake, to be added to one of the three plates that were nearly sky high.

"Wow, you're going all out."

Kitty smiled as she set the table. "Consider this _our_ gift to everyone. Kurt's cooking,"

"Thank God!" Pietro exclaimed and was quickly slapped by Kurt tail.

"And I'm just acting as the assistant." Kurt mumbled something in German and while the words weren't understood by Pietro or Marie, they were understood by Kitty as she smiled and kissed his cheek.

"So, what do we have?"

"My specialty pancakes, with your choice of blueberries, chocolate chips or nothing. We also have scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, fruit salad, smoothies, bagels, different jams, peanut butter, just regular fruit..."

"Okay! You made a lot of food, we got it." Kurt grinned and flipped a final pancake onto the chocolate chip stack.

"Admittedly, the Brotherhood _never_ ate this good. It was always order in pizza, or cold Chinese food...Bleh."

Kitty and Marie giggled at Quicksilver's expression as the other young X Men, plus Ororo entered the kitchen.

"Has anyone seen Logan?" the weather witch question as Kurt handed her a plate of blueberry pancakes along with some fruit. He felt a momentary stab of panic, before calming, he was only glad his mental shields were at full strength so Jean didn't suspect anything.

"He's around here somevhere, I actually think he went out for a motorcycle ride." He gave her a grin, Logan had indeed gone out, but not for a motorcycle ride. "He _did_ tell me to give you zis." He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket with his tail and handed it to Storm.

"Oh, thank you Kurt." She smiled and took both the plate and the note and headed towards her sanctuary, the sunroom.

oOo

"Alright ladies, it's Valentine's Day, meaning we have to look our best." Kitty commanded.

"Do you use that tone with..." Kitty slapped a hand over Wanda's mouth.

"You get your mind out of the gutter and _focus_!"

Wanda licked Kitty's hand, "Eew!" Wanda smirked and high fived Rogue.

"Okay..." the brunette used a wipe to clean her hand. "Anyway, we basically just need _great_ outfits for dinner tonight. Everyone's eating together."

"Yeah, but I _know _Kurt told you he has something special planned."

Kitty smiled and blushed. "Back to the point, we need outfits that'll make their jaws drop and...not another_ word_, Wanda." The Scarlet Witch sat back in her seat with a pout.

Marie nodded, "Alraght, I _actually_ agree with Kitty. I think we should dress really amazing,"

"You mean sexy." Wanda chimed.

"Fahne, _sexy_ for tonight. So let's get to work."

Several hours of hair, makeup and wardrobe the girls stood in front of the large mirror, each smiling at their reflections.

"Am Ah bein' a narcissist if Ah say Ah look hot?"

Kitty shook her head, "Definitely not, 'cause, I would have to be one too. Kurt's going to flip." They all fell into uncharacteristic giggles and were left to put on the finishing touches before dinner.

oOo

Logan slung his black suit jacket over his shoulders and carefully placed the ring in an inside packet. ~_Alright old boy, you raised Marie, you can do this. ~_ That's right, the normally oh so tough Wolverine, was nervous.

A knock at the door startled Logan but he calmed and opened it to reveal a grinning Kurt, already dressed in a black suit jacket himself with a button up red shirt underneath and looser suit pants, he feet were bare as the world had yet to invent shoes for him.

"Just came to see if you were panicking yet." Kurt grinned and Logan rolled his eyes.

"I'm fine, Elf, yourself?"

Kurt grinned and patted his pocket, "Perfectly fine."

The two X Men headed down the hallway before splitting ways to go meet their respective girlfriends.

Kurt knocked on Rogue and Kitty's door, beyond which he could hear a copious amount of giggling. Wanda opened the door and peaked out; she smiled when she saw Nightcrawler. "Hey, good thing you're here, Kitty'll be _right_ out."

"Danke Wanda." She smiled at him and closed the door, only to have it opened a few seconds later by Kitty.

"Hey Fuzzy." She greeted before stepping out, straightening her skirt as a way to get him to notice what she was wearing.

He didn't need much encouragement as he was speechless the second she came into his view. Kitty had straightened her hair and it framed her face. She wore a knee length black skirt and strappy black flats. A white strapless top underneath a dark, navy sheer one acted as her top. His Christmas gift to her glittered in the light and she smiled at his silence.

"I'll take it you like the outfit?" Kurt cleared his throat and smirked slyly, pulling her towards him and whispering in her ear.

"You look amazing." They walked down the hall together and Kitty smiled, leaning her head against Kurt's shoulder. ~_Never leave. ~_

oOo

Rogue and Wanda watched the exchange with grins, finally speaking when the couple disappeared down the hall.

"I swear he was _this_ close from ripping her clothes off." Wanda held her fingers apart by an inch but Rogue shook her head.

"No, he would have bamfed them to his bedroom first."

oOo

When Marie and Wanda came downstairs soon after Kurt and Kitty, they were interested to find they were the last ones there.

"Wow, you guys look incredible." Pietro and Evan came over.

Pietro placed a quick kiss on his sister's cheek, "You're a mirror image of Mom." Wanda smiled sadly and hugged her brother. When they pulled away, Evan spoke up.

"You guys do look great."

They smiled, Marie was wearing a long sleeved green shirt with a scoop neck, loose black dress pants adorned her legs and the outfit was finished by a pair of simple black flats. She'd left her hair alone, simple choosing to hold back a portion of her bangs with a sparkly green clip.

Wanda had chosen a pair of tight black pants that were tucked into a pair of high black boots. She wore a ruby red, backless halter shirt over top of a lacy black tank. Blood red lipstick finished her look.

"Shall we?"Pietro held his arm out to Rogue who rolled her eyes but looped her arm with his and allowed him to walk her in. Evan wrapped a brotherly arm around Wanda and pulled her with him.

It turned out everyone had gotten dressed up and Evan smiled when he saw Ororo in a silky white blouse adorned with tiny crystals and a deep purple skirt.

"Welcome everyone, I know most of you have your own plans for the rest of the evening, so I will simply say: enjoy!" the Professor beamed.

oOo

Kurt tugged Kitty out onto his balcony and she laughed. "Alright, so what's the big surprise?"

Kurt grinned and hugged her. "I'm not sure if the customs here are ze same as they are in Germany, so forgive me if this seems strange."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Alright." He grinned and picked her up by the waist to set her on the railing, keeping his tail around her. He took one of her hands with his own.

"You know I love you..." she nodded, confused. "Vell, I know it vould kill me to see you vith someone else and, it's an old custom, but I thought it might be fitting." He placed something in her hand. "Kitty, would you accept this ring as my promise, that I will ask you to marry me one day?" her jaw dropped and she held up the small band. It was white gold and two small gems sat in the flat surface, a dark blue sapphire, the exact shade of his fur, and an aquamarine, the exact shade of her eyes.

She nodded and slipped the ring on her finger before flinging herself into his arms and kissing him passionately. "Yes, a thousand times yes!" he chuckled and kissed her back.

oOo

Logan swallowed his mouth and throat dry. ~_I hate being nervous. ~_ It wasn't a feeling he was accustomed to and it made him even more uncomfortable. Ororo sat herself on one of the stone benches that decorated the gardens.

"So, what is it you pulled me out here for?" the weather goddess wasn't really expecting anything extravagant, that just wasn't what Logan did.

He looked down at her, the moonlight making her hair almost glow and her skin shine radiantly and he felt himself calm. He smiled and sat next to her, lacing his fingers with hers and bringing her hand up to kiss the back. He could see her blush, which made him smile.

"Just tying a few strings." He whispered. "'Ro, for a really long time, I was on my own, then I got Marie, and she's the light of my life, but she's growing up, and that shows me that even with her, there's always been something missing."

He smiled and slid off the bench to kneel on one knee and Ororo's jaw dropped. "I love you, _you_ are what was missing. Storm…Ororo, will you marry me?" he pulled out the ring and Ororo actually gasped. The band was a dark white gold, in the center there was a stormy gray diamond, on either side there was a cloudy opal shot through with veins of pinks, blues, yellows and greens. She nodded, feeling tears of joy run down her cheeks.

"Yes." She could barely speak, she was so chocked up and Logan slipped the ring on her hand before capturing her in a kiss. "I love you too." She whispered, kissing him again.

oOo

A/N: Wow, I finally updated, sorry for keeping you guys without anything to read, school has been hell on wheels: Never Ending. I think my Math teacher is trying to turn my entire class into rocket scientists –shudder-

Just because I'm nice, there's a double update for ya'll today XD. You're welcome. (Dancing in the Dark will be updated pronto)

Love ya long time!


	6. Beginnings and Endings

Chapter 6: Beginnings and Endings

Disclaimer: No.

A/N: I can't write the way Toad talks to save my own life. So please bear with me.

Kitty woke up with her face buried in Kurt's chest and she smiled when she caught sight of the ring on her finger. It wasn't an engagement ring, they were both too young, but it was a promise that sent her heart fluttering. She looked up at Kurt as he slept, his expression was peaceful and she smiled, curling closer to him. ~_Everything's perfect. ~_ She absentmindedly stroked the spade of Kurt's tail where it wrapped around her waist and rested on her stomach. She felt herself grin, the girls would always tease her, saying Kurt was possessive, along with a few other tail jokes, but she absolutely loved the thing. As Kurt had once said, "I have a great poker face, but a lousy poker tail." It certainly was true as, unless he really concentrated, his tail would react to his mood. Having it wrapped around her was a term of affection and love, to her it represented being safe. He'd never let her fall.

"I love it vhen you do that." he whispered and she smiled.

"Good." He hugged her tightly and soft skin met velvet fur.

"Should we go downstairs?"

Kurt shook his head, "Rather not, actually. It's still early."

Kitty sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. "Can we just lay here then?" Kurt tightened his hold around her in response.

oOo

"Good morning everyone!" Ororo greeted as the X Men entered the kitchen. Kitty had stolen Kurt's clothes again, and the couple sat as close as possible as they could at the table. Rogue sat on Kurt's other side with Pietro on the other, his arm around her shoulder. Wanda had taken up her twin's free side and Evan completed the semi circle. Jean and Scott had yet to come downstairs.

"So, why are you in such a happy mood 'Ro?" Kitty questioned, Kurt had, much to his own surprise, been able to keep Logan's proposal a secret and she didn't know. Storm smiled mysteriously, and Evan finally noticed what was different, at the same time Marie caught sight of the smile on her father's face as he read the paper (or faked it, he hadn't flipped the page in several minutes).

"You're getting married!" Evan exclaimed at the same time Rogue screamed, "You asked her to marry you!" The kitchen exploded, the girls all clambering around Ororo to see the ring and the guys all pounding Logan on the back in congratulations.

"So, you're basically going to be my Dad?" Evan questioned and Logan just grinned.

"If ya want me to be."

Evan smiled, "It'll take some getting used to but, okay."

Rogue beamed and embraced her future mom, "This is great." Kitty exclaimed taking 'Ro's left hand with her own. "Wow, it's gorgeous."

Ororo caught sight of the ring on Kitty's finger as well and whispered. "Looks like I'm not the only lucky one."

Shadowcat blushed but smiled happily, "Don't say anything, this is your day." Storm sighed but hugged her.

"Now, what is the celebration about if I might ask?" Hank stepped into the room.

"Logan and Ororo are getting married!" Wanda exclaimed.

"Well it's about time." The scientist replied sending everyone into laughter.

oOo

The news quickly spread to Jean, Scott and the Professor that Ororo and Logan were getting married, and soon the mansion was filled with frantic girls, all planning the wedding, which would take place in less than a month. The couple only wanted a small wedding, with the X Men as their guests so it was fairly simple.

While the woman planned, the men had a quick discussion which was basically, "Woman are crazy." "Yep." And decided to avoid them all day until they relaxed.

Logan and Scott were locked in the garage, music blasting at a suitable volume to not drive Logan insane. Pietro and Evan were on the basketball court in another one of their infamous battles. While Kurt left the mansion all together and went on one of his runs through the forest, he'd even taken a hammock to string from some trees if he just wanted to relax.

It was noon before any of the girls noticed the absence of the guys. "Hey, has anyone seen mah Dad?" Rogue came into the Library where wedding magazines, dress designs, seating charts, venue possibilities and fabric swatches were spread all over the tables.

"No, come to think of it I haven't seen Kurt either." Kitty looked up from the book of wedding gowns she'd been perusing. "Uh Jean, can you find the guys?" the red head smiled and nodded, closing her eyes as she brought her hands to her temples.

The girls were all silent and waited for Jean to surface from her self induced trance. "Logan and Scott are in the garage, Evan and Pietro are on the basketball court and Kurt is somewhere in the forest." The girls all rolled their eyes; the guys were so predictable.

"I'll get Kurt." Kitty drifted down through the floor.

"I'll take Evan." Rogue sighed and was followed by Wanda, "I've got Pietro."

"I've got Scott and _you_ have your husband to be." Jean grinned and ran from the room. Ororo smirked to herself before following her student. ~_Interesting turn of events. ~_

Jean telepathically unlocked the door, allowing the two of them to enter the 'manly' sanctuary, which at that point of time had Nickelback blasting. "Hey boys." Jean chimed as she turned down the music.

Scott looked up from where he'd been waxing his car. "Is it safe to come inside?" he asked. Jean rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm, dragging him from the concrete room. Ororo laughed as the couple left and started her search for her fiancé.

It turned out he'd set up camp with his motorcycle.

It was quite strange, she reflected, that he hadn't heard them come in, or he had and had chosen to ignore them, as he focused on his bike. Grease decorated his hands and parts of his arms, jeans and t-shirt; there was even a thick streak of it on his forehead, most likely when he went to wipe sweat from his brow.

"Hey." She greeted and he looked up with a grin.

"Is the mansion still intact?"

She playfully slapped his arm. "Hush up you, we weren't _that_ bad." He cocked an eyebrow. "We're women and it's a wedding, what do you expect?"

He chuckled, "Am I going to have to do anything?"

She smiled, "Show up, say the right name, look nice, pick out your groomsmen, and write your vows."

He smirked, "Easy enough."

She smiled and kissed a clean part of his cheek, "Good."

oOo

Kurt used his tail to swing the hammock. He'd hung it between two trees and was currently staring up at the clear sky that to his eyes seemed endless.

"Hey Fuzzy!" he turned and smiled when he saw Kitty grinning up at him. "You're going to have to come down, you know how I am with heights!" he chuckled and tilted the hammock, making it swing wildly until he fell from it completely.

He plummeted to the ground, but spun and carefully angled himself to grab onto a tree branch, swinging from it to a tree trunk and finally flipping to land on the ground in a cat-like crouch.

Kitty clapped her hands, "Bravo! Ladies and gentlemen I give you the fantastic Nightcrawler!" he bowed to the invisible audience with a laugh before turning to Kitty.

"So, I can come inside vithout being attacked?"

She rolled her eyes, "Yes, yes, now come on, I'm missing my blue, furry boyfriend." He grinned and gave her a quick kiss before leaping back and climbing the tree again to retrieve the hammock and bamfing to the ground.

He wrapped an arm around her and they silently traveled back up to the mansion.

"I don't think I ever really realized how beautiful it is out here." She murmured.

Kurt smiled at the world in general, "Vhy do you think I come out here?" he questioned.

Kitty smiled, it was as if every day, she learnt something new about Kurt, small things that made him, him.

She leaned up at kissed his cheek, "Love you."

He turned his head gave her a grin, "Love you too Katzchen."

oOo

Dinner that night was only slightly more rambunctious than normal.

Marie and Wanda were holed up in their own little world of vampires, werewolves and the like, currently discussing something that made absolutely no sense what-so-ever to anyone else.

Pietro and Evan were also caught in their own conversation. The topic: sports...as always. Kitty was actually wondering if they knew how to talk about anything else.

Jean and Scott were talking about school and all those fun things that bored Evan, Pietro and Kurt to tears.

The adults were conversing about topics that the students did not take the time to care about and as always, Kurt and Kitty were halfway between acting like children and flirting outrageously.

In other words, everything was as it should have been. Everything was normal.

Until the doorbell rang loudly.

Everyone stared in the direction of the front entrance in confusion.

"I didn't even know we _had_ a doorbell." Evan whispered, almost in shock.

That statement brought everyone back to the fact that they obviously had visitors. "I'll get it." Ororo stood from the table and left, her footsteps the only sound as she left.

The teens all shared looks before leaving after their instructor, Kurt being sure to turn on his image inducer as they went.

They got there just as Storm was opening the door to reveal Franklyn and Suzanne Pryde, Kitty's parents.

The brunette's jaw dropped as Ororo addressed the couple coolly, "Can I help you?"

Suzanne replied for the both of them, "Yes, we're here to see Kath- I mean, Kitty."

As if she wasn't shocked enough. Shadowcat felt the world spinning around her and her legs nearly gave out, if her always attentive boyfriend's arms hadn't wrapped around her waist, holding her up.

"Well that depends on whether Kitty would like to see you or not." Storm replied, her voice giving away nothing.

Kitty, with the help of Kurt, stood before walking over to her parents. They gave her careful smiles when they saw her, but Kitty felt strangely disconnected. Ororo backed off, leaving the Prydes staring at each other.

Kitty spoke first, "What are you doing here?" her parents seemed relieved that she didn't _seem_ angry and replied slightly less anxiously.

"We're here to see our daughter."

Kitty took a breath, "Follow me." She led her parents down the hall to the Library, leaving the rest of the X Men in the entryway.

They sat across from each other on the over-stuffed leather couches, Kitty feeling emotions rolling inside her, the most prominent being ager and confusion. "Why?" she questioned, her voice hard.

"We're here because we're sorry and ashamed of the way we acted." Franklyn said, soundly genuinely embarrassed.

"You treated me like a piece of property for my entire life." She stated coldly. Her parents nodded, "You controlled everything I did, and then you had the nerve to put me in an arranged marriage! News flash, it isn't the nineteen hundreds anymore! Plus I _have_ a boyfriend." They looked shocked at this particular piece of information.

"A-a _boyfriend_?"

She nodded "Yes, and he's better than any blonde rich boy you could ever pick out."

"Kitty, we realize now how awful we were, and we really are sorry. We'd like to try and start over…please?" there was a note of pleading in Suzanne's voice. Kitty sighed, and was about to reply when there was a knock on the Library door before Kurt stuck his head in.

He took in the lack of destruction and sighed inwardly, "Uh, Keety, the Professor vould like to know if you and your parents vould like dinner."

She smiled softly, "That be great Kurt, but first, could you come in here for a second?"

He shrugged, "Sure." He walked over and her parent's eyes lit up with understanding.

Maybe _this_ was their daughter's boyfriend. They looked him over: pale skin, dark hair, dark eyes, and a strange accent. He held himself with a relaxed confidence and he looked like a regular teenage boy, but Kitty had said last time that the people here were _all_ mutants, so that meant so was this boy.

"Mom, Dad, this is my boyfriend, Kurt Vagner."

Kurt cocked an eyebrow, almost surprised, but he gave a small smile, "Guten Tag." He greeted.

Kitty gave her father a calculating stare, "Kurt's from Germany, and like I said, better than any guy _you_ could choose." Kurt bit back a chuckle, his Katzchen had a lot of unresolved anger with her parents, and she was letting them know it.

Franklyn took a careful breath, "And, he's also a mutant." It wasn't a question and Kurt bit back a smirk, ~_Oh, this is going to be fun._ ~

Kitty smiled, "Yep. So is my friend Marie, who's also my roommate. Our friend Evan, his mom, Marie's dad, Wanda, her brother, the Professor, they're _all_ mutants."

Kurt couldn't help adding something to that, "Marie can suck people's energy and mutations by touching them with her bare skin, her Dad has metal claws in his hands, the Professor's a psychic, and Wanda is basically a vitch, all fairly normal around here."

The Pryde's jaws dropped and Kitty had to keep from laughing. "If you can't accept that the people who I live with and love quite a lot are different than what you would call _normal_ then you can't accept me either and I suggest you leave."

The two adults shared a look ad Kitty decided to give them one final test, if they still wanted to reconnect after this, she'd give them a chance. She turned to her boyfriend, "Kurt, will you turn off your watch please?"

He gave her a trusting grin, "Of course Katzchen." With a flick of the wrist, the normal looking boy disappeared to be replaced by a blue demon look a-like.

Kitty smiled at her parents as Kurt wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and his tail around her waist. "Well?" the Prydes stared at Kurt, he was still dressed as he had been before, but they now had to take in the fact that their daughter was dating someone who looked as far from human as you could quite possibly get.

"Tell you what, how about you think about it and come back tomorrow…or don't, I'll get the message." She and Kurt turned out of the room. "I think you'll be able to show yourselves out." Was her parting comment.

___**Once they left the Library, Kurt bamfed them to the dining room.**_

___**A few minutes later, they heard the front door close and Kitty ended up just pushing her food around her plate. **_

___**Everyone else continued dinner as if nothing had happened, mainly to give Kitty time to sort through her thoughts. She was grateful for that…she just wished her thoughts weren't so chaotic.**_

___**Kurt seemed to sense his girlfriend's plight and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, bamfing them upstairs. While she was his girlfriend now, she'd been his best friend first, and he hated seeing her upset. **_

_"__**Katzchen?" she took a shaky breath ~**__**I'm not going to cry. ~**_____

___**Kurt turned her head to face him, "Do you want to talk about it?" **_

___**She shook her head, but started talking, the words spilling out, "It's just, I don**____**`t know if I can forgive them. I thought I would be able to live without them, but I just-I just want to have parents who love me you know?" she hugged herself and looked up at Kurt with tearful eyes. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep the hurt from her voice. **_

___**Kurt didn't know any words that might make her feel better, at least none that were true, so he just brought her to him in a warm hug. She hugged him back, hating that her parents had shown up and messed with her life. She'd been doing fine; she was getting good grades, her training as an X Man was coming along nicely, hers and Kurt's relationship was more than she could have ever hoped, and they just had to appear and mess with her head. It wasn't fair.**_

_"__**Do you hate them?" his voice was soft. **_

_"__**No, but they can't just turn up and say they're sorry and expect everything to be okay!" She bit her lip and let Kurt pick her up so they could sit on his bed. **_

_"__**Never leave." He whispered softly. **_

_"__**Never leave." She replied thickly.**_

___**Kitty eventually quieted when she fell asleep and Kurt watched her for a while before lying down next to her. "Ich liebe dich, Katzchen."**_

___** oOo**_

___**Kitty woke up feeling pleasantly warm and in her favourite position of having Kurt's arms wrapped around her. He watched over her all night. She shifted a little, being careful not to wake him up to see the clock reading 7:00 a.m.**_

___**She sighed; they had to get ready for school. **_

___**She squirmed a little and leaned against one arm, watching Kurt sleep. She grinned a little, how anyone could think he was a demon was almost laugh worthy.**_

_"__**Kurt…" she rubbed her nose against his. "Wake up…" she sang. His eyes opened, the familiar gold shimmering in the faint light. **_

_"__**Morning Katzchen." He placed a light kiss on lips before sighing; "Its Monday isn't it?" she nodded.**_

_"__**Great." She giggled, kissing him quickly before leaving the bed. **_

_"__**You know, I should just move in here, I barely ever sleep in my room." She commented as she left the room through the wall. **_

___**He looked after her before leaving the bed and bamfing into his bathroom for a quick shower. **_

___**Down the hall, Kitty shook her head when she saw Wanda in her bed. "Now I **__**know**____** I should move in with Kurt." She giggled quietly to herself and quickly grabbed a change of clothes and left the room to the bathroom just as Rogue's alarm clock went off loudly.**_

___**As she turned on the water she sighed and let it fall over her, soaking her hair.**_

___** oOo**_

___**Kurt towelled the water out of his fur, resisting the urge to shake like a dog, knowing that it wouldn't be appreciated. He threw on his clothes and his inducer before 'porting down to the kitchen where Ororo was just setting out breakfast. He grinned and dug into his own food, and getting slightly irritated when his still slightly damp hair got in his eyes. **_

___**He was putting his dishes in the dishwasher just as everyone else entered the kitchen. **_

___**Breakfast was finished in near silence as everyone continued to wake up, Monday morning was not a time for conversation. **_

___** oOo**_

___**Pietro spun in his locker combo and quickly grabbed his books. He turned with them in hand to walk right into Lance.**_

_"__**Hey there you are!"**_

_"__**Where've ya bin yo?" Toad jumped up and Pietro found himself backing away.**_

_"__**Well? We haven't seen ya in ages."**_

_"__**And what's with the not coming home in weeks?" **_

___**Pietro sighed, ~**__**Why did I ever hang out with these guys? They're idiots! ~**____** He pulled away from them, "I'm not a part of the Brotherhood anymore." He stated. **_

___**They gave looks that said they didn't believe him, "Yeah, right. Where would you go?" **_

___**Marie chose that point to walk up, followed by Kurt and Kitty. "Hey, you coming to class?" the Goth questioned, standing next to him.**_

___**Pietro smiled down at her and wrapped an arm around her waist, "Course, just dealing with a few things." **_

___**Kurt glared at the Brotherhood boys, "You veren't bothering one of the X Men during school vere you?" Their jaws dropped as they looked at Pietro in shock.**_

___**He did look better, there weren't dark circles under his eyes, and he looked fit and actually happy. He also seemed to have lost that high and mighty attitude he'd had before. **_

_"__**Yo ,you joined the X dorks?" Toad was in an immense state of shock, but seemed to be the only one of the Brotherhood that could actually speak.**_

_"__**Yep." Pietro smirked, "Get used to it." The four walked off leaving the boys standing there, jaws slack. **_

_"__**Traitor!" Lance called after him. **_

___**Pietro looked back, "Jackass!"**_

___**Marie snorted quite unladylike. "And you've wanted to call him that for how long?" **_

_"__**Since the first day I met him."**_

_"__**Very nice." Kurt commented.**_

___** oOo**_

___**Love ya long time; oh and for those who haven't checked it out, there's a poll on my profile for the category of my next fic. Please vote!**_


	7. Come Back

Chapter 7: Come Back

Disclaimer: Next person that asks me if I own the X Men has to eat one of Kitty's muffins!

Shadowcat stared out the window, it was getting dark but she was still holding on to some hope. Kurt had joined her a little while ago and she was grateful for the company. "They aren't coming." She whispered sadly.

She heard Kurt exhale slightly angrily, "Zen zey do not know vhat zey are missing." He said forcefully; his accent always got thicker when he was emotional.

She gave him a sad smile, "Thanks Kurt."

He sighed, "Oh Katzchen." He wrapped his arms around her.

"I just thought, that maybe they'd..." she took a shaky breath, "I don't know what I expected."

He kissed her hair, "You expected them to actually be your parents." She nodded. "Give it some time." She sighed, hugging him tightly.

They stayed in that position for a little while, eventually falling asleep on the couch. That was how Ororo found them a little while later. She smiled slightly and laid a warm blanket over the couple.

Just as the weather witch was about to take the first step upstairs, there was a tentative knock on the door. She blinked before rushing over and opening it a bit to see Suzanne Pryde. "Mrs. Pryde?" the woman nodded, "Is Kitty around?"

Storm nodded, "Yes, follow me." She opened the door to let her in and took her down the hall where the two teens were still sleeping peacefully.

Suzanne felt herself smile, they looked cute together and she couldn't remember the last time she'd ever just watched her daughter do anything.

Quietly, she crept over and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. She shook her slightly and Kitty's bright blue eyes opened, "Mom?"

Suzanne held a hand to her daughter's lips. "We don't want to wake up your boyfriend." Kitty glanced up at Kurt and smiled before turning intangible and slipping out of his arms.

Shadowcat placed a light kiss on Kurt's cheek before taking her mother out of the room and down the hall to the rec. room. Ororo had gone upstairs, leaving the Prydes to talk.

Kitty looked to her mother with hope, "Why are you here?"

Suzanne sighed, "Because you're my daughter and while I've been a lousy mother I love you." Kitty felt tears slip from her eyes and threw herself in her mom's arms. Mother and daughter hugged each other tightly. "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner but-"

"Dad wouldn't let you." She supplied.

Suzanne smiled ruefully, "Unfortunately."

"I want to know everything."

Kitty cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I want to know about you. Your friends, your school. I don't know enough."

Kitty smiled and pulled her mother down so they sat side by side on the couch. "Ask away."

Suzanne smiled brightly, "Alright...Well first of all, what's your boyfriend's name, I seemed to have forgotten and how old is he. In fact, just tell me everything about him." Kitty giggled, this was one subject she enjoyed.

"Okay, his name's Kurt and he's seventeen. He's a teleporter and before we started going out he was my best friend..." She trailed off, caught in memories. Suzanne saw this and quickly decided she liked the blue mutant.

Kitty shook herself, "He's the funniest guy here, insanely optimistic, loves to make me smile, is always supportive, really protective and has about a million little quirks that just make him Kurt." Kitty's eyes shone in a way that had Suzanne fighting tears, her daughter was in love. "He's really gentle, even if he's an incredible fighter, he's strong and sweet and," Kitty smiled at her mom, "And he loves me." She was so sure, and it filled her tone.

Mrs. Pryde smiled and squeezed her daughter's hand, "He sounds wonderful."

Kitty nodded and grinned, "Next question."

Suzanne laughed, "Alright, your other friends, what can you tell me about them?" Kitty smiled and spent the rest of the night talking with her mom.

It was one in the morning when Kurt woke up and found the absence of his girlfriend. Confused, he used his sixth sense [1] to find her.

He walked into the rec. room to see mother and daughter curled up next to each other on the couch. The half demon grinned and threw a blanket over them; it was then that he noticed that Kitty looked quite similar to her mother.

"Nacht Katzchen und Mutter Katze." He smiled and left the room, his feet padding softly on the carpet until he reached the stairs where he bamfed up to his room.

oOo

Kitty woke up to having her mother stroking her hair. "Mm, morning mom." She yawned and sat up.

"Morning hun." Her mother, for some reason, had a strange half smirk half smile on her face.

"What?" Shadowcat looked around the room, half expecting Kurt to be perched somewhere or maybe hanging from the ceiling.

"Nothing dear, but you were right."

"About what?" Kitty questioned.

"Your boyfriend is quite protective." Kitty's eyebrows knitted together.

"What did he do?"

"He made sure I wasn't attacked by Logan." Kitty laughed at that.

"May I ask vhat is so funny?" Kurt came into the room, crawling along the wall.

Kitty smiled, "Nothing Fuzzy."

The blue teen grinned and leapt off the wall to the chandelier. "Guten Morgen Frau Pryde."

Suzanne smiled, "Good morning Kurt."

He grinned upside down before bending to grab the chandelier in his hands and hang upside down before dropping to the ground. "I'm here to get you for breakfast."

The Prydes stood from the couch, "And Mr. Logan?" Shadowcat asked tentatively.

"Vill not attack anyone with the last name Pryde unless eet is your fazzer." He smirked slightly and Kitty sighed.

"I can't expect either of you to be good around him can I?"

Kurt shook his head, "Nein." His fangs flashed and he led them down the hall to the kitchen.

The three entered the nearly empty kitchen, the only other person there being Pietro, and as always the speed demon was nearly done.

"Did you sleep in or something?" Kitty questioned.

"Or something." The blonde mumbled and Kurt struggled to cover a laugh with a cough.

Pietro glared, "Yeah, well it wouldn't have been so funny if it were you!"

Kurt let out a chuckle, "I vould have gotten out sooner zough."

"Yeah, well not all of us can teleport or walk through walls."

Kurt did laugh this time, "At least my sister doesn't lock me in a closet for three hours vearing nothing but a towel!" he fell down, then, unable to contain his laughter any longer.

Kitty stared at Quicksilver, "Wanda locked you in a closet wearing nothing but a towel?"

He blushed, "Last time I ever have a shower before her." He mumbled quickly finishing his cereal. "See ya!" he left the kitchen in a blur and Kurt was finally able to stand again.

Kitty looked at him with a barely suppressed grin, "You didn't get him out?"

Kurt shook his head, "Think of it as revenge for the Pixie Stix incident."

Kitty shuddered, "Yeah, you aren't allowed anywhere near those."

Kurt grinned, "I'm in complete agreement."

oOo

Kitty waved to her mother as the car headed down the drive. It was only when the black limo disappeared that she stopped. Kurt wrapped an arm around her waist, "You happy Keety?"

She nodded, "Oh yeah, I'm really happy."

He grinned giving her a light kiss. "Come on, it's hot out and I think a svim is in order."

She nodded, "I couldn't agree more."

oOo

Ororo sighed as she traced the pattern on a dress that hung on the wall. She was currently perusing a wedding dress store, in hopes of finding one for herself. Being the girls that they were, Kitty, Wanda and Marie had joined her. They were also acting as her bridesmaids, with Marie as her maid of honour.

"How about this one?" Evan had also come along, saying that while he was a guy, he was also her son and wanted to play the part that his birth mom would have.

No one had said anything after that.

She looked at the dress he held out, it was quite nice with a scoop neck and long sleeves, delicate beading up the sides gave the illusion of different fabrics. "I like it, but it's just..." Evan grinned and left to continue looking through the dresses. He was getting a few odd looks but he pushed them off.

"Oo, Ororo, what about this?" Wanda came over carrying a lace and silk piece. Ororo looked at it, it was just as nice, but it still wasn't the dress. She shook her head with a small smile.

"Hey, don't worry Ororo, we'll find the perfect one." Kitty chimed and dove back into the lines of lace.

The weather goddess sighed and started going through the racks again and not five minutes later, Kitty let out an "Ah Ha!" she turned and Kitty brandished an absolutely gorgeous dress.

It was strapless, the bodice laced up with silver ribbon, no back and the white silk skirt fell to the ground almost liquid like.

Ororo smiled and hugged Kitty, "It's perfect."

Kitty giggled and held it out, "Then try it on!"

Several minutes later the five X Men left the store, Evan deciding that he needed some serious guy time before he went insane and started painting his nails.

oOo

Logan sighed as he went through an old photo album. No one but Marie and Ororo knew about it. It held some of his most precious memories, and he only had it because he'd stashed it away before he'd had those experiments done to him.

He sighed as he came to an old photo from World War II. It was of him and Captain America. God he missed his old friend.

With another sigh he turned to page and came to a few photos from a few years ago. There were all mainly photos of Marie. And as he turned the pages he came to photos of the rest of the X Men.

He chuckled when he found of photo from right before Spring Break. Kurt, in a moment of Cabin Fever plus sugar, had turned Scott into a human ice cream sundae.

The lesson that was learned that day was: Never leave the Elf with copious amounts of whip cream, sprinkles, cherries, and caramel sauce.

"Hey Dad." Marie popped her head into the room. "Whatcha doin'?"

He grinned, "Eh, just looking through a few old photos."

She smiled, "Well, we kinda need your help."

"Why?" whenever one of the kids came to him for help it was never good.

Marie smiled nervously, "Well, you see, Pietro didn't know about the sundae incident and, well, he kinda ended up as one."

Logan stared at her, his lips twitching. "Alright."

Rogue led him downstairs and out the front door where loud laughter could be heard.

Logan himself nearly lost it when he saw Quicksilver stuck in caramel, covered in rainbow sprinkles, cherries, whip cream, chocolate sauce and -where Kurt got this Wolverine would never know- more peanuts than you'd find on an overnight flight to Europe.

The laughter itself was coming from Kurt who had fallen over, a fair distance from the angry speed demon.

"I swear Kurt when I get out of this!" Kurt just continued to laugh.

"Breathe, Elf." Logan commented as he pulled Pietro from the sticky mass of dessert toppings.

Pietro grimaced, "Ew."

Logan shook his head. "Don't move." Evan, knowing what to do from when this had happened to Scott, pulled over the house and handed it to his future father. "Thanks Porcupine. Now hold still Speedy." Pietro yelped when he was hit by the cold water and Kurt continued to laugh.

Once Quicksilver was caramel free, if soaking wet, he glared at Nightcrawler. "You are so dead."

Kurt jumped up and started running. Pietro gave chase and Kurt quickly teleported to the top of the mansion. "Dessert is a good look for you mein friend!"

"Get back here Kurt!"

The rest of the night was spent dodging the two boys as they raced around the mansion. Kurt somehow never growing tired of the game.

oOo

[1] I've mentioned this before but Kurt has a sixth sense (at least in this story) that helps him know and remember where everything is so he doesn't teleport into something or someone. It also helps him locate someone or something specific and he can tell you his exact location.

A/N2: MERRY CHRISTMAS! Here's your present my lovely readers.


	8. Unity

Chapter 8: Unity

Disclaimer: Nope.

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to blackrose who is one of the most devote Loro worshippers I have ever met.

Kurt sighed, his tail swishing from side to side. He hadn't been in this position for a while.

He sat on the stone railing of his balcony, his toes curling over the edge, his arms resting on his knees as he stared up at the sky.

He could hear everyone moving around downstairs, completing last minute preparations for the wedding tomorrow. It was still an amazing thought; Logan and Ororo were getting married. The Wolverine and Storm were getting married.

Kurt couldn't have been happier for them, but the noise and rushing around had gotten to him and he'd bowed out to relax outside in the peace and quiet. It was nice just to have some time to himself.

His lips twitched as he grinned, he was supposed to be getting ready for Logan's bachelor party, but he was putting it off in favour of letting the cool breeze ruffle his fur. It was a calming feeling to have the ocean wind run over his bare chest, and through the cerulean fur, like it was giving him a brief hug, before releasing him. Just a simple reminder.

He closed his eyes and sighed again, tomorrow two of his loved ones would be joined together forever. And in the future, so would he and Kitty.

That thought got a full blown smile as he left the balcony to get ready.

oOo

Kitty smiled as the rest of the girls started teasing Ororo mercilessly. She herself was content with watching from the couch with her glass of lemonade. Seeing as most the girls present were minors, there wasn't any liquor present. The same probably couldn't be said for the boys. Kitty was only glad that she knew the groom could hold his liquor. The same could be said for Kurt, Kitty knew this for a fact seeing as he had told her earlier that his high metabolism burned through the alcohol quickly leaving him insanely sober, it was the sugar and caffeine you had to be worried about.

"Come on 'Ro, why won't you just tell us?" Wanda whined playfully. Ororo laughed, "Because it's a surprise." "Will you at least tell us if it's in North America?" Storm shook her head, "Nope. Our Honeymoon destination is staying a secret whether you like it or not, it's less likely you'll be able to find a way to bug us." She took a sip of her drink.

"Okay, fine, will you tell us if you and Logan are planning on having kids?" Kitty questioned and Ororo blushed. "We haven't really talked about it." She mumbled. "Oh come on! Should I expect a little brother or sister?" Marie batted her eyes. Ororo smiled a bit, "Maybe."

oOo

The next morning, Kurt woke up to hear groaning. He smirked; he knew exactly what the reason for that was. He blinked down below him. He'd taken up his resting place on the chandelier last night after everyone, minus him and Logan, passed out.

The groaning was coming from Pietro who had slipped off the love seat to land on the unforgiving hardwood. He chuckled when he saw Evan act in a similar way, even if the boy had drank less than his blonde friend.

Logan came into the room, looking completely fine, "Good, you're all awake. Get yer butts in gear, wedding's in a few hours." Evan and Pietro groaned again, echoed by Scott while Kurt leapt nimbly from the chandelier to land perfectly balanced on the back of the couch the X Men leader had taken up residence on. "That's code for VAKE UP!" Kurt called loudly.

The rest of the boys groaned quite loudly and Kurt knew he'd be paying for that one later.

Meanwhile, Logan grinned, "Elf, go to the kitchen and whip up a couple smoothies. Vanilla ice-cream, banana and orange juice, alright. And find the Advil." "Got it!" Kurt bamfed out of the room.

A little while later, after the rest of the boys had found out the rest of the joys of drinking too much, the hung over boys collapsed at the kitchen table where Logan and Kurt handed out the drinks and Advil. "What are these for?" Evan mumbled after he'd thrown back the small capsules. "The banana and orange juice help eliminate the rest of the alcohol in yer system as well as replenish all the vitamins you threw up. The ice-cream helps it go down smoother." No one said anything to that, just tossed back the orange drinks.

oOo

A few floors up, the woman were running around like headless chickens, all in different states of panic and stress.

"Where's the veil?"

"Over here!"

"Flowers?"

"Downstairs!"

"Oh God, my hair will not co-operate!"

"Here, try this!"

Actually, Ororo was the only calm one, but that was mainly due to the fact that she just realized she was getting married today. She was, understandably, in a state of shock as the girls helped her into her dress, did her hair and makeup and finished every other little detail.

"Marie, I have your dress." Wanda held out the long pale green piece for the maid of honour. Seeing as it was such a small wedding, there was only the maid of honour and the best man. These spots were being filled by Kurt and Marie. Evan was the one to give away the bride.

"Oh no, I just remembered something! We still need something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue!" Kitty exclaimed. This set forth a whole new wave of hysteria.

"Hey, I have something old!" Jean left the room and came back with a silvery clip, "It was my Mom's, so it's old and borrowed." Wanda grinned and took it, seeing as she was the one doing Ororo's hair. "Okay, now how about new and blue?" Marie thought out loud.

"Oh, oh, I've got it!" Kitty ran straight through the wall to come back with Kurt in tow. "Uh, Kit. Kurt's blue but Ah don't think that counts." Kitty smiled and Kurt just looked confused.

Nightcrawler shook his head, "For ze sake of my sanity I'm not going to ask, but I vas told by ze groom to give you this." He handed Ororo a small wrapped box. He grinned, "See you in a few." He left through the door to save the girls from the scent of sulphur.

Ororo quickly unwrapped the box to reveal a delicate silver and sapphire bracelet. Kitty grinned, "Yay!" the bracelet was placed around Storm's wrist and the girls went back to work.

There was a knock on the door several minutes after the now to be called 'old, new, blue, borrowed' incident. "Come in!" Wanda called as she helped style Storm's long ivory locks using Jean's clip of course.

Hank stepped in, dressed impeccably in a crisp black suit specifically tailored to him. Kurt had also gotten one made. "Hello ladies. I just thought you'd like to know that the boys are ready and the minister just arrived." "Thanks Hank." Ororo smiled at her friend. "You look beautiful Ororo." She smiled as the blue man left.

Only a few minutes later, there was yet another knock, only this time it was Evan, "Hey guys." "Hey Spyke." He smiled at his friends, before taking notice of his aunt. Kitty noticed his look and took action, "Come on guys, we should be getting down. Evan, where's Kurt?" "Waiting for Marie at the backdoor." "Thanks." The rest of the girls filed out leaving Evan and Ororo alone.

"You look beautiful, Aunty O. I know my Mom is smiling right now." Storm felt tears prick her eyes and dabbed them away before they could ruin her makeup. "Thank you Evan." She whispered and he leaned up slightly to kiss her cheek before offering his arm. "Shall we?" she nodded, picking up her bouquet of white and red roses from her own garden. "Let's."

oOo

Kurt led Marie down the aisle, because the minister was a friend of the Professor's, he wasn't wearing his inducer. A light, airy song played through the garden as they reached the end and Kurt took his place beside Logan while Marie stood opposite.

The wedding march began to play and everyone turned in their seats to see Evan lead Ororo outside and down the aisle.

Marie looked over at her father, he had a soft smile on his face and his eyes shone. She smiled and turned back just as the weather goddess stepped up. Marie took the roses and gave Storm a warm smile.

Logan gazed at his bride, her hair had been done up in a loose bun with a few loose curls framing her face. The sheer veil curtained her face and her eyes sparkled similar to the small opals that hung around her neck.

Neither Storm nor Wolverine really remembered the ceremony, only saying "I do" when they were told and reciting their vows. By the end, everyone had tears running down their cheeks, even Logan.

"You may kiss your bride." Logan wrapped his arms around her and they shared a passionate kiss as the rest of the garden cheered.

oOo

Kurt grinned as he watched Logan and Ororo dance together, along with them was Marie and Pietro, and Evan and Wanda. He hadn't been able to find Kitty since the ceremony which was the only reason they weren't out there as well.

"Hey Fuzzy." Speak of the devil.

He grinned, "Hey, vhere have you been?" she smiled and cuddled close to him. "Nowhere." He sighed, her eyes were slightly red, "Your eyes are red." She blushed, "Well..." he kissed her forehead and wrapped an arm around her. "When one is overfilled with joy, some may spill from the eyes." He quoted. She giggled, "Now where on Earth did you hear that?" "No idea." He answered truthfully; he must have read or heard it somewhere.

"Want to dance?" he invited, "I thought you'd never ask." She said coyly and he chuckled, leading her onto the dance floor.

After a few songs, Kitty bowed out and Kurt strode over to his sister. He held his hand out, "Willst du mit mir für diesen Tanz kleine Schwester?" (Will you join me for this dance little sister?" she smiled, "Ah'll take that as an invitation ta dance." And took his hand letting him lead.

Pietro also grabbed Wanda and the two pairs of siblings took over the dance floor.

oOo

The next morning, Logan and Ororo left for their honeymoon, slightly anxious about leaving the house dominated by teenagers.

"It'll be fine." Logan chided as they boarded their flight to Florida. She sighed and smiled up at her new husband, unconsciously running her fingers over her wedding ring. "I know, but I'm allowed to be nervous." He grinned and placed a light kiss on her forehead.

oOo

A/N: My apologies for a short chapter, but this felt like a good place to end.


	9. Love

Chapter 9: Love

Disclaimer: Yeah, uh huh, sure…..

A/N: I know what you're thinking, 'where the hell is the plot?' well here's the thing, the romance and friendships are part of the plot. No worries, action and such will come, but I'm quite happy with how this is going so far.

oOo

Kitty glanced around hers and Rogue's room with a strange expression on her face. "Hey Kit." Marie greeted as she entered, snapping Kitty form her thoughts.

"Hey Rogue…can I ask you something?"

"Course."

"Would you miss me if I moved into a different room?"

Marie's head snapped up, "Well, yeah, of course, why?"

Kitty sighed, but a small smile played on her lips, "Well, Kurt and I have been talking and we were considering asking the Professor...if I could move into his room."

Rogue screamed happily and tackled her friend off the bed, "Are you serious?"

Kitty laughed, "Yeah!"

"That's great!"

"Marie, we're just talking about it."

"So? You guys would be movin' in together! We already live in the same house; this is the equivalent of getting an apartment tahgether." Kitty laughed again and pushed Rogue off her.

"So, you think it's a good idea?"

"Duh!"

Shadowcat smiled brilliantly, "Thanks Marie, Kurt's great to talk to-"

"But sometimes you need some girl time?"

"Yeah…" the girls smiled at each other before there was a knock on the door and Wanda came in.

"I'm bored." She stated and sprawled out on Rogue's bed.

Rogue and Shadowcat shared a look, "Okay, what haven't we done in ages?" Kitty asked.

Wanda blew out, "Fought the Brotherhood?"

"No, and we fought them a week ago." Marie reminded her.

"What we haven't done in ages is have a girl's night."

Wanda grinned, "Are you suggesting what I think you are?" Kitty nodded and Wanda cheered.

An hour or so later the girls were gathering supplies, Marie was finding every blanket and pillow she could, Wanda was raiding the DVDs and Kitty had taken over the kitchen, searching everywhere for chips, drinks and other snacks.

That was how Kurt found her when he came in from a run, "Uh, I though I vas the one who raided the kitchen."

She grinned, "Normally, but the Marie, Wanda and I are having a sleep over." Kurt shook his head and kissed her cheek, swiping a Poptart from the box she was holding as he did so.

"Hey!"

He laughed and ducked out of the kitchen.

oOo

Evan groaned, "So, they're having a girl's night?"

"Yep."

"And we're stuck doing nothing?" Pietro asked.

"Yep."

There was a pause before both Evan and Pietro exclaimed quite dramatically: "NOOOOOOOOO!" up until they were slapped by Kurt's tail and hand respectively.

"Ow."

The blue mutant shook his head, "Stop vhining if you're so bored, go find something to do zat doesn't include annoying ze hell out of ze girls." He bamfed away leaving the boys looking at each other.

"Want to rig up the X Box?"

"Already am." Evan replied from where he was crouched in front of the TV.

oOo

Kitty laughed as she was showered in pillows, you make one comment about how good you think one girl's brother looks with the other friend and you will find yourself attacked by the fluffy pillows o' doom!

"Okay, okay I give!" she laughed and the two Goths sat back, content smiles on their faces.

"How'd you like it if I said you looked great with Rogue's brother?" Wanda questioned with a smirk to which Kitty returned one of her own.

"I'd say, you're right." The other two groaned.

"Okay, next topic, Kitty, your birthday is in a few weeks, right?"

She smiled, "Yep, March twenty-sixth."

Marie and Wanda grinned, "Great, okay, it's your sixteenth so we need to do something special…"

Kitty cut Wanda off in the middle of her plans, "That sounds great Wanda, but I really just want you guys and my mom there, really simple you know?" she tilted her head to the side.

"For every other one of my birthdays, it's been huge and flamboyant, and I just want something simple with the people I love." Kitty knew how cheesy it sounded, but it was true.

The two Goths nodded, "Sounds good…but we still need a list of things you'd like for your birthday." Shadowcat laughed and the rest of the night was spent with pillow fights, copious amounts of sugar, karaoke and movies ranging from sappy, to romantic comedy.

oOo

"We're home!" Ororo called once she and Logan stepped inside.

Her call was greeted by the stampeding of feet as Marie nearly toppled Logan. He laughed and hugged his daughter, "Hey Kid, miss me?"

She shrugged, "Not really." Her eyes sparkled with mirth.

Evan hugged his mother tightly, "How was your trip, and you _don't_ have to go in details."

She laughed and ruffled his hair, "It was wonderful, the weather was good the entire time!" the family laughed, in reality the locals had been blown away by the perfect weather they'd gotten for two weeks straight.

"Where's everyone else?" Logan questioned, keeping an arm around Marie.

"Right here!" Kurt appeared at the top of the stairs as he slid down the banister similar to Evan grinding on his board. The blue mutant flipped to the ground when he reached the bottom just as Kitty dropped through the ceiling to land in his arms.

She laughed, "Nice catch Fuzzy!"

"Danke Katzchen!" he set her down.

They joined the group greeting the newlyweds, eventually taking the reunion into the dining room where dinner was being served by Hank that night.

Conversation was light and lively that night, everyone in a state of relaxation and peace that was, unfortunately, a rarity at times in their lives.

oOo

Kitty mumbled in her sleep and rolled over. She opened her eyes and blinked owlishly before snapping awake.

She jolted up and looked at her bedside table with a warm smile. A single red rose, thorn less and looking delicate and lush sat there.

She picked it up and lovingly stroked the deep crimson petals.

Shadowcat smiled softly and breathed in its soft scent, it was then that she noticed a note that had been sitting underneath the flower.

_Day one/ twenty-six_

oOo

The next day Kitty woke up to two roses and it continued like that for three weeks, another rose been added every day.

By the time April twenty-sixth -Kitty's birthday- rolled around she'd had grown to quite enjoy the flowers that appeared next to her bed each day.

On the morning of her birthday, Kitty woke up smiling at her ceiling before she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She sat upright and looked around with wonder. Roses surrounded her bed, white, red and pink, their sweet scent filling her senses.

"Happy birthday Katzchen." She looked to the corner and Kurt materialized.

She gaped, "How?"

He smirked, "Vanda's quite helpful isn't she?" he looked around with approval, the Scarlet Witch had been happy to help him get all the roses into Kitty's room while she slept.

She bounced from her bed into his arms, hugging him tightly. "I take it you like my gift?"

She nodded and kissed his cheek, "I love it."

He grinned and dug into his pocket, "I hope you this too then." He handed her a small box which she opened to reveal a silver bracelet. The silver was moulded in the form of vines, wrapping around each other to create a ring. In the center the silver was moulded into a rose, tiny rubies detailing the petals and making it sparkle.

She gasped, "It's beautiful."

He grinned and slipped it around her wrist, "I love spoiling you, you know that?"

She giggled and hugged him, "You're so sweet."

oOo

That evening they had an intimate dinner where Kitty's was given more gifts for her sixteenth birthday, Kurt remained by her the entire time.

She, of course, wore her new bracelet, along with a loose red shirt she'd found hanging in her closet with a note saying: _From Scarlet._

Her mother also came, she and Hank got along famously, surprising everyone, but apparently her mother was where she got her A+ average from.

oOo

"Well I don't see why not." Charles smiled across the desk where Kurt and Kitty beamed at him.

"Thank you Professor!" he nodded and the couple left the room. They'd just asked him if Kitty could move into Kurt's room, and seeing as she already spent most of her nights there already, the Professor hadn't hesitated in saying yes.

Kurt and Kitty headed downstairs, not meeting anyone until they came to the rec room where Pietro and Marie were quite happily making out on the couch.

Kurt cleared his throat the two sprung apart, "We weren't doing anything!" they exclaimed in unison. Kurt and Kitty were silent for a full three seconds before falling down laughing. The other couple glared at them even as their faces turned a bright red color.

"Wh-who did y-you think we were?" Kitty laughed.

"Wolverine." Pietro mumbled sending Kurt into another round of laughter.

"Care to tell us what's so funny?" Evan Wanda entered, Wanda looking amused and Evan was shaking leaves from his hair and clothing.

The rest of the group looked at them, "Dare we ask?"

"No." Wanda answered nonchalantly before picking leaves off Evan's back.

"Didn't think so." Kurt said.

oOo

"This is Alpha 1, what's your status Beta 6?"

"We have a visual of the mansion sir."

"Keep out of sight and wait for further orders. We don't need any screw ups in this one."

"Yes Mr. Stryker."

oOo

Yay, cliffhanger! The action starts soon, exciting no? Please review, they make me smile.

Shadow


	10. Watcher

Chapter 10: Watcher

Disclaimer: I do not pretend to own X Men: Evolution or the X Men movies.

A/N: Belated b-day gift from me to you in honour of me surviving another year and being closer to death, woot. I tell you one thing, I have the WORST luck on my birthdays, which is why this is a few days late. That, and I was watching Megamind over and over and over and over...:D

Enjoy!

oOo

Kurt appeared in a flash of smoke, landing on the couch directly between Kitty and Evan. "What I miss?" he questioned, slinging an arm around his girlfriend.

"Don't know, the Professor just told us to come here. Where were you?"

"Running from Jean." He replied as if it happened every day...which it sometimes did.

"What did you do this time?" Wanda questioned as she came in followed by Marie and Pietro.

"Eh, I think I'm losing my touch, I only shrunk her clothes."

There was a pause, "And you're still alive?"

"Of course, I just shrunk all her shirts." The others shook their heads as the Professor came in with everyone else. The expression on his face was unreadable, but it made Wanda and Kurt tense up.

"Students, I have some news." Everyone settled and remained silent, now wasn't the time to be goofing off. "The President was attacked by a mutant." There was an immediate uproar, "What how is that possible?"

"Vhat do you mean a mutant?"

"Is he dead?"

"What does this mean for us?"

"Children, please, calm yourselves." The Professor ordered and everyone sat, somewhat reluctantly.

"Now, he is fine and no one is dead, but mutants have been revealed. Not only that, but Cerebro has detected more mutants across the world." He waited as this information sunk in.

~_Kurt, you should know that there is a possibility it was Mystique who attacked the President. ~ _

Kurt gave the equivalent of a mental nod. ~_Thank you Professor. ~_ The short exchange went unnoticed by everyone else, but Kurt did slouch over in his seat and massage his temples with his fingers.

"Now, this will not affect us too harshly, but it does mean that you have to be more careful in the use of your powers. That means that Pietro, you cannot do anything that includes super speed, please stay in the same area as humans. Kurt, you're going to have to drive, no teleportation around town. Jean, you already know what I expect of you." The Professor threw a hard look at the red head. "Kitty, please use the doors, Wanda, be careful how you react and Ororo, I'm going to need you to let the weather do as it wishes for now until everything blows over." There were nods around the room and Charles gave them all soft smiles. "I promise I will look into the attack, for now, please be careful." There was a note of plea in the final sentence, making everyone's heart's clench.

Unlike a few months ago, when they'd just been friends, or at some points acquaintances, they'd become much closer, and were now more like a family than anything else.

Kitty squeezed Kurt's hand and he gave her a small smile.

Wanda turned her head to look at Pietro, worriedly; he gave her a cocky grin making her smile.

The now much larger Logan family stood together, Rogue leaning back into her father slightly while Hank put a friendly hand on Charles shoulder.

"That is all; you may go back to your activities." The Professor rolled out, followed by Storm, Wolverine and Beast, leaving the teens all together.

They all shared glances before Marie wandered over to the bookshelf containing all the DVDs. "Anyone want to watch a movie?"

There was a chorus of "Yeah" and they all made themselves comfortable.

"Kurt and I'll get the snacks." Kitty said.

Several minutes later everyone, minus Scott and Jean who had decided not to watch the movie, were curled up around the room watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3. They weren't five minutes into the movie before they'd all ended up on the couch together.

Kurt was seated next to one armrest with Kitty on his lap. Rogue sat beside them, her head resting on Pietro's shoulder. Next came Wanda who'd drawn her knees to her chest and was relaxed with a blanket thrown over her shoulders. Finally Evan sat against the opposite armrest, staring blankly at the screen, not really taking it in. In fact, no one was really paying any attention to the movie, more worried that something would happen to the people around them.

oOo

Throughout the next few weeks, everyone was noticeably stressed out. Logan had them running DR sessions that left them winded and falling over each other. Ororo was spending all her time ether with her plants or with her family. Kurt was hardly ever doing one of his own relaxing workouts, but would more likely be found turning himself into a pretzel as was his habit when he got worried or nervous.

Kitty was spending her time with Kurt, or emailing her mom. Homework was something she threw herself into, but never really worked on for very long. Marie and Pietro were together as often as possible, except when he chose to spend time with Wanda and she chose to spend time with one (or both) of her two brothers.

In general, no one ever wanted to be alone.

Kitty stared up at the ceiling, it was midnight and Kurt had been asleep for several hours already. She wished she could do the same but she was finding it impossible to even close her eyes.

"Katzchen, if you don't go to sleep now, you never vill." Kurt's voice startled her and she turned her head to see his glowing eyes looking at her intently.

"I thought you were asleep."

He sighed, "No, just meditating."

They looked at each other for a while before Kitty sighed sadly and curled closer to him, burying her face in the thick fur of his chest. "I want this to be over." She said softly.

He nodded and hugged, "I know, I do too." And that was how they stayed until they were jolted from their semi-sleep by the sound of shattering glass.

They jumped apart and shared panicked looks. "That doesn't sound good." Kitty said nervously. He nodded and they both jumped again when an explosion rattled every window in the mansion.

~_Not good. ~_ Kurt thought, strapping his Inducer to his wrist as they ran from the room. The two rounded a corner to nearly collide with three, camo covered soldiers.

Luckily, the men were shocked by Kurt's appearance giving them enough time to run back down the way they came.

Reeling around yet another corner, they did run into someone. Reacting instinctually, Kitty phased through the man while Kurt thrashed in the man's hold. "Kurt! Kurt calm down, it's me!" Nightcrawler stopped, his chest heaving to look up and see it was Logan holding him in place.

"Mr. Logan, there are-"

"Soldiers, I know. We have to evacuate."

Kurt looked at him blankly. "Vas?"

Logan sighed, "Grab everyone and get out. I don't care where you go, just leave." Kurt nodded.

"What about you?" Kitty asked, concerned.

"I'll meet up with you, just get out, there are a few escape routes you can take if you have to, just hurry." The teens nodded and Kurt wrapped an arm around Kitty, bamfing them up to Marie and Wanda's room.

When they reappeared they found the room completely dark and dead silent aside from the sounds of crashes and assorted explosions down below.

"Kurt, Kitty?" Wanda's voice came from the closet where both girls stepped out from. "What's goin' on?"

"Soldiers, we have to leave."

"What, no way."

"Yes way, Logan told us to, now let's go." Kitty grabbed Wanda's hand, while Kurt took Rogue's.

"I'll take you down to the garage and then come back."

Several teleports later, the girls were hiding in one of the largest cars they had that wasn't the X Van. "Vait here." Kurt commanded before disappearing only to come back ten minutes later with Evan.

Just as Kurt was preparing to go and find Ororo and Pietro, there was the sound of yet another explosion outside the garage. His eyes widened in panic and instead he leapt into the car and pulled it from its parking space. Ignoring the other's protests he tore from the garage and raced towards the gates. "Kitty, phase us through."

"What? No, turn around!"

"Do it!" he barked and she jumped before placing her hands on the side of the car.

There was a tingling as they rushed through the gates and down the road. Kurt's foot was flat on the gas as they broke the speed limit, heading towards the highway.

"Kurt, what are you doing? We have to go back!"

He growled, "Logan told me to everyone out, so I am."

"Yeah, _everyone_!"

He growled again and his eyes flashed as he through a glare over his shoulder. "I'm getting _you_ out." Was all he said as they sped down the road.

Everyone was scared into silence, Kurt angry wasn't fun and the drive was silent up until Nightcrawler decreased the speed of the car when they were several miles away from Bayville.

He pulled off the road and into an empty truck stop. Parking, he turned off the car and leaned back, closing his eyes. "I didn't want to leave everyone behind." He said softly. "But the Professor wouldn't have wanted everyone dead." That made everyone freeze. There was silence in the car before a tapping on the window made everyone jump.

"Pietro?" the blonde waved and Wanda threw open the door with a shout to tackle her brother. "Thank God you're alright!" Everyone, minus Kurt, got out of the car, an emptiness seeming to resonate in each of them.

"What now?" Pietro breached the question. Evan shook his head and fell down to sit against the car, hiding his face in his hands. Marie just crumpled, sobs overtaking her. No one knew what to say and Kurt was just finding it hard to control his anger, at himself and those soldiers. ~_It's my fault, it's all my fault. ~_ He shook his head and left the car, everyone, even Kitty, ignored him.

He walked past Evan, past Marie and into the trees. He could feel a snarl building in his throat but pushed it down and tore through the trees.

His heart was pumping and adrenaline rushed through his veins. He didn't take notice of the branches whipping his face and grabbing at his fur. He ignored the tears that blurred his vision and he ran blindly through the trees.

oOo

Kitty did her best to comfort Marie, "Why? Why did Kurt make us leave? My Dad is back there, so is my Mom, I just…he knows what it's like to lose your parents, so why did he force me from mine?"

Kitty felt a lump in her throat and her friend sobbed. "He was trying to take care of us, you know that."

"I _know_, but-"

Kitty nodded and pulled Rogue into a hug. "It'll be okay, it'll be okay…"

Evan rubbed his arms to ward away the chill that had nothing to do with the temperature. His eyes were trained on the trees Kurt had disappeared into some hours ago. ~_Did he abandon us too? ~ _Needless to say, his thoughts weren't that positive and were teetering on ridiculous at some points.

A snap as a stick was broken made everyone jump, but it was only Kurt emerging from the forest. He looked rather worse for wear, but his eyes were what scared everyone, they weren't blank or even cold, rather they were glowing angrily, flashing like a raging fire.

"Kurt?" Wanda asked tentatively.

"The mansion's being ransacked."

"What?"

"The government has taken control of it."

"And everyone else?"

Kurt smirked evilly, "The jet's missing."

Everyone took a moment to decode this, "They got away?"

"There's no sign of them having been captured." Kurt's feral smirk hadn't left and it made everyone curious as to what the state of the men that attacked them was.

"C'mon, we can't stay here." He started the car again. "Kitty, where do your parents live?"

"Boston, why?"

"That's vhere ve're going."

Everyone looked at him blankly and he sighed, "Ve need to go to a place vhere ve von't be killed on sight and that has a phone." They nodded and got in the car, Pietro and Wanda sat at the very back, Evan and Marie in the two seats in the middle of the van and Kitty sat up front with Kurt.

The first hour or so was silent as the people in the back fell asleep. Kurt kept his eyes trained on the road, choosing not to start a conversation.

It was only when Pietro finally nodded off that he spoke up, startling Kitty who could never find the ability to sleep when she was stressed.

"I'm sorry."

She looked to him, "What?"

"For snapping at you." He elaborated. "I'm sorry for that Keety."

She sighed, "We're sorry too, you were just helping us."

He shook his head, "I vould have acted the same vay."

She sighed sadly before reaching over and squeezing his shoulder. "Apology accepted Fuzzy."

He gave her a small grin. "Think you can stay avake long enough to give me directions?" she nodded with a smile and spent the next few minutes giving him as detailed directions she was capable of to get them to her house.

oOo

"We're here!" Kitty called, startling everyone awake.

Everyone rubbed sleep from their eyes as they stretched and yawned. "Where's here, exactly?" Wanda asked groggily.

"My place." Kitty replied.

Everyone looked out the windows and their jaws dropped. "Damn, Kitty, _this_ is where you _live?_" The Pryde Mansion was _huge_ seated on rolling green lawns with lush gardens, it was something to behold.

"Keep going straight, we'll park in the garage and sneak in." Kurt nodded and did as instructed and soon the group found themselves tip-toeing through the richly decorated halls of Kitty's house.

"Keep quiet; you never know when one of the maids will be wandering around."

Rogue looked around in awe; she hadn't really paid attention when they first came here to meet Kitty.

Kurt threw out an arm suddenly, making everyone halt. His other hand pulled Kitty back from where she was about to turn a corner. "Your dad." He whispered. Kitty looked around and lead them to a door that she opened before hustling them all in.

"Hurry, into that closet." She ordered.

Evan pried the door open to reveal an empty closet. "What?" she pushed him aside and reached behind an empty shoe rack. Grasping blindly she finally found what she was looking for.

There was a soft 'click' and a discrete door, designed to looked exactly like the wall, opened slightly.

"Come on!" they rushed through the door and up the stairs behind it, Pietro closing the door behind them as he was the last one up.

"Step lightly, these stairs are creaky." They traversed up, slower than before, finally coming to another door. Kitty stuck her head through it before letting them all out into yet another hallway.

Kurt rubbed his temples, this place was like a maze and it was giving him a headache.

"Nearly there." Kitty whispered.

"Nearly _where?_" Marie asked.

"My mom's study, without a doubt she'll be there by herself." This was reassuring news as Kitty led them down the hall to an oak door. She jiggled the handle to find it was unlocked.

Everyone breathed out a sigh of relief when the door was closed behind them.

"Hello?" Suzanne Pryde came out of another door across the room, nearly dropping the book in her hand when she caught sight of her visitors.

To see your daughter and her friends, looking exhausted and in their sleepwear wasn't very reassuring.

"Kitty! Honey why are you here?" she rushed across the room and started looking the teens over, starting with her daughter.

"We're fine mom, just got into a kind of tight spot."

"That's an understatement." Evan mumbled.

Suzanne sighed, finishing with Kitty and moving onto Kurt, who was leaning back against the wall. "Are you alright hun?"

He opened one eye. "You have a big house." He said.

This confused everyone, except Kitty, who came over looking concerned, "Headache?"

He nodded, "I hate new places." She winced and took his hand.

"Can I ask what's going on?" Suzanne inquired.

"Kurt has this sixth sense where he can basically find anyone or anything by its magnetic field. Being in a new place messes him up for a little while, especially when it's as large and confusing as your house." Marie explained.

"Yeah, when he first came to the Institute, he got kinda like this for a little while." Evan finished.

"It'll pass." Kurt insisted, pushing away from the wall. Everyone knew that tone and decided, albeit reluctantly, to let it go.

"Now, what happened?" Kitty's mother led them to several chairs and couches.

"The mansion was attacked by the military." Wanda said bluntly.

"Oh my God."

"We don't think anyone was captured, but we need to use your phone."

"Hang on a second." Suzanne left to come back with a cordless phone, which was then handed to Marie. The Goth took it and without hesitation started dialling.

"Please pick up, please pick up, please…"

"Hello?"

"DAD!" Marie felt her eyes well up with tears.

"Marie? Marie darlin' is that you?"

"Yeah, yeah Dad it's me, are you okay?"

"Yeah were fine darlin', we took the jet to the house. Everyone's here, the Professor, Hank, Jean, Scott and yer Mom." Marie let out a breath, but her tears choked her, keeping her from replying.

Evan took the phone from his step-sister and she gave him a smile. Pietro wrapped his arms around her as she cried into his shoulder with relief.

"Dad?"

"Evan?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"Who's all with you and where are you?"

"We're at Kitty's place and it's me, Marie, Pietro, Wanda, Kitty and Kurt. We're all fine…well; Kurt has a headache, but otherwise…" there was a sigh of relief on the other side.

"Thank God, hang on, yer Mom wants to talk to you."

"Evan? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Mom, really, we all are… you can tell Dad that Kurt got us out." He added softly.

"I will. You're at Kitty's?"

"Yeah, her mom's gonna help us."

"Okay, stay put and don't leave the house. We'll find a way to get to you."

"Got it and Mom?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you too sweetheart."

oOo

Suzanne had led them all to Kitty's bedroom where she left them to go get some food for everyone.

Kurt, who was leaning against Evan and Pietro thanks to his headache, was put on the bed, where he curled into a ball, similar to a cat, and was silent.

"So what's the plan?" Wanda questioned.

"We stay here until they come and get us." Evan replied, fiddling with the hem of his pyjama shirt. Kitty sighed from her place sitting on the bed next to Kurt. She was playing with his hair, apparently he'd fallen asleep.

"Do you have a TV in here?" Pietro asked, taking in account the rest of the top of the line things that decorated the room. She nodded and dug through the drawer in her side table to bring out a remote which was promptly tossed to Quicksilver.

"Point and shoot." She muttered, gesturing to the wall across from her bed. Pietro, looking confused, did so, hitting the power button. A portion of the wall turned to reveal a flat screen TV that flicked on.

He grinned, "Sweet." And started flipping through the channels.

"What are you doing?" Marie questioned her boyfriend.

"Trying to find the news, there might be something about us on it, I have to know if we're wanted or something."

"Or something." Kurt muttered, nodding to the screen. As one, the teens looked and their jaws dropped. An aerial view of the Institute was playing, a picture of the news anchor in the top right corner of the screen.

"While the reason for the attack has yet to be announced the leaders of the operation have assured us that it was for the safety of the American citizens. Several fugitives have said to have escaped, so please, if you see anyone of suspicious nature, do not hesitate to call the number on the screen."

Pietro turned off the TV and there was silence.

~_We're wanted by the state, no not just the state, the entire U.S. Oh God; I'm going to be sick! ~_ Kitty felt her stomach toss and dashed from her bed into the en-suite bathroom, closing and locking the door behind her.

She held tight to the toilet rim, willing her stomach to calm. ~_I'm not going to be sick, I'm not going to be sick, I'm not…~_

Kurt opened his eyes again when Kitty ran into the bathroom. He sighed and stood from the bed, willing his head not to explode. ~_This is going to hurt. ~_

Bracing himself he bamfed into the bathroom to find Kitty getting sick. He kneeled beside her, ignoring his pounding head and rubbed her back, particularly between her shoulders and lower back.

Kitty's stomach finally calmed down once it had nothing left in it. She felt a glass pushed into her hands and swished the water in her mouth.

Kurt brought her to his chest, cradling her to him. "It's going to be alright, Katzchen." She shook her head but hugged him back.

oOo

Suzanne Pryde entered her daughters room with a trolley piled high with food to find all the teenage mutants sprawled ungracefully across the room.

Kurt and Kitty were on the bed, so wrapped up together it was difficult to tell where one started and the other began, both fast asleep. Evan had taken up the loveseat in front of the TV that was on mute. Pietro had Wanda and Marie on either side of him and they were conversing quietly as they sat against the base of the bed on the floor.

She sighed and left the food, going over to the bed and pulling a blanket over Kurt and Kitty. Her daughter only moved closer to Kurt as she did so and Kurt in turn tightened his arms around her thin form.

Suzanne felt a very small smile come to her lips, Kitty was in good hands, even if she wanted to be the one there for her daughter, she realized it was time to let her little girl live her own life.

She'd 'owned' Kitty for her entire life, it was time she was given her freedom.

oOo

A/N: For some reason, this chapter came out really awkward (at least to me) it was difficult to write and I am just plain glad it's over! Anyways, what will happen next? Only I know!

Reviews are welcome!


	11. Escape to Desperation

Chapter 11: Escape to Desperation

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Logan held the steering wheel in a vice grip, beside him his wife watched the scenery flash by with a sombre expression on her face.

"They're fine, 'Ro, you talked to Evan yourself."

She nodded letting out a breath, "I know, but a mother is allowed to worry over her children."

Logan nodded, "All six of 'em." That got a small laugh out of her.

"Logan?"

"Yeah?"

"Evan told me something over the phone."

"What was it?"

"He said to tell you that…Kurt got them out."

Logan felt a proud grin come to his face, "Knew I could count on the Elf." Ororo chose not to ask what he meant and went back to watching the road flash by. They were taking Logan's old truck, the one he'd been driving when he found Marie actually, to go get the kids, mainly because anything registered to Charles Xavier would be tracked and the truck was registered to one James Howlett, and the X Jet would be way too conspicuous.

She gave a tired sigh, "Logan, will this ever end?" he let out a breath, "We have no way of knowin' love." She nodded, "I don't want to lose anyone else Logan." There were tears in her voice and Logan so wanted to bring her into his arms, but couldn't if they wanted to get to their kids, "I don't either." He reached over and took her hand, squeezing it gently, "I love you." He stated. She smiled at him, "I love you too Logan."

oOo

Kurt blinked at the ceiling before sighing in relief, his headache was finally gone and his sixth sense was back 'online' as it were.

He sat up and looked around to find his friends had yet to notice he was awake. They all looked like they'd just been told they only had a few minutes to live, and that just wouldn't do.

Shaking his head he moved into a crouching position before gracefully leaping from the bed to pounce on Pietro, whose startled yelp shocked everyone from their bad news induced stupor.

"Kurt?"

"Morning!" he greeted before jumping backwards to land in a chair. "Anybody know vhere ve can get some food, I'm starving!" they stared at him for a second like he'd just grown a second head, and Kurt was half tempted to check, before Pietro started chuckling, softly at first, like he'd forgotten how to, then falling into all out laughter.

This started a chain reaction and before anyone knew it, they were all laughing as hard as they could.

Kurt grinned, ~_My work is done. ~_ His motto was that sometimes when it gets really bad, you just have to laugh.

"Doctor Phil you have nothing on the Fuzzy Dude." Evan got in. Kurt grinned goofily, "Now, about that food thing…"

A little while later, after the group had discovered the food Mrs. Pryde had left them; they were all sufficiently full and hanging around Kitty's room in a similar way to how they would at the mansion.

This was the sight that greeted Suzanne when she came to check up on the teenagers.

"Glad to see you're all feeling better." She smiled at the young X Men.

Kitty smiled at her mother, "Yeah, well, it's hard to stay upset for a long time with this guy around." She playfully kicked Kurt and he in turn, without looking p from his food, used his tail to tug her ponytail.

Suzanne shook her head before leaving the room, locking the door behind her.

She strode down the hall, heading towards her study when their butler, Adam came up to her, "Madam, there are two people at the door asking for you."

"Oh, who are they?"

"I don't know, ma'am, but the man is quite, uh, rough and the woman has white hair."

Suzanne knew immediately who they were, "Thank you Adam, you can go." She called after him as he left, "And do not tell my husband about our visitors."

He nodded, "Yes ma'am."

Confident her secret would remain so, she rushed downstairs to the front entry where Logan and Ororo stood waiting.

"Ororo, Logan!" Ororo turned her head and smiled when she saw her.

"Suzanne, I was worried we would meet up with your husband."

She smiled a little bitterly, "You weren't the only one worrying about that…Follow me, and I'll take you to the kids."

She proceeded to lead them up to Kitty's room.

She knocked on the door twice before opening it, revealing the young X Men looking to her with curiosity that was quickly replaced with joy.

"Mom! Dad!" Evan and Marie spoke in unison as they shot from their seats to glomp their parents. The two adults laughed as they embraced the kids, but soon had to open their arms to the other four as well.

Ororo breathed out a sigh of relief as she embraced Kurt and Wanda, gently stroking the fur of Kurt's cheek and brushing Wanda's short hair from her face. "Thank the Goddess you're all alright."

Wanda sighed, leaning into the X Men's universal mother figure and feeling quite safe.

"Alright, we should get going, can't risk getting found." Logan explained.

Everyone nodded and Kitty momentarily broke away from the group to embrace her mother.

"Thanks mom."

Suzanne hugged her daughter tightly, wishing not for the first time she could do more, "I love you darling."

Kitty could only nod as she raced out the room with the others, leaving her tearful mom behind.

They all loaded into the truck, Marie grinning a bit at the memories it brought back.

Logan only waited long enough for all the doors to close before he hit the gas and raced them down to the highway.

In the back, everyone attempted to get comfortable, eventually ending with all the girls on the guys' laps to conserve space, not that the boys were complaining.

Kitty cuddled into Kurt's embrace as they watched the scenery pass by in flashes.

oOo

"Hey, uh, Dad?"

Logan looked back at his daughter once they reached the house. "Yeah Kid?"

"Um, everyone else fell asleep."

Logan looked over his shoulder and chuckled, everyone, excluding Marie was slumped over in some way and sleeping like the dead.

He shook his head and got out of the truck, Ororo climbing out as well.

"You two head into the house, I'll bring these guys in, but could ya send out Hank?"

There were two nods and he went to the side of the truck to open the door. Being careful not wake them, he lifted Kurt and Kitty into his arms. Kurt was extremely light and so was Kitty, so this was actually possible.

Hank came out just as he was walking into the house. He spied Marie yawning from the corner of his eyes and nodded in the direction of the stares.

She yawned again while nodding and led the way upstairs to her bedroom.

When they got there, she collapsed on the bed, but scooted over to the side, allowing Logan to lay Kurt and Kitty down.

"Evan can have tha window seat." Rogue mumbled sleepily.

Wolverine stifled another chuckle and pulled a knitted blanket over the three teens.

Within the next several minutes, everyone was asleep somewhere.

Logan collapsed on the sofa and Ororo handed him a mug of coffee that he accepted with a grin.

"So what now?" the white haired woman asked as she leaned against her husband.

Professor Xavier shook his head, "I don't know."

That wasn't very reassuring.

oOo

Kurt opened his eyes and yawned, blinking a few times before he realized he wasn't in his own room. He was frozen before someone moved beside him and he relaxed to find Kitty curled up in his arms.

~_Okay, Kitty is accounted for...now where the heck am I? ~_

Someone moved behind him and he turned his head to see Marie on his other side, grasping his shirt and nuzzling her face in his shoulder.

He fought a grin ~_Thank God I'm her brother or Pietro would kill me. ~_ His tail wrapped around her waist and settled on her arm as he looked around the green and brown room, finally seeing Evan on the window seat.

~_Ah, we're at Marie and Logan's then, that's the only explanation for the color scheme. ~_

Kitty moved again in his arms, getting into a more comfortable position before settling again and sighing.

He shook his head trying to dislodge fantasies of waking up with Kitty in his arms, they were in some serious troubles now, and it wasn't the time to be dreaming about a future that might not happen if the government ever got a hold of them.

That thought successfully sobered him and he just held Kitty tighter, his tail bringing Rogue closer as well. He wouldn't let anything happen to his family.

He nuzzled his face in Kitty's hair, drinking in her familiar and comforting scent. If something happened to her...

He didn't want to think about it but his mind stirred up images.

Images of him, acting more demon than human. Blood on his hands as he insanely destroyed everything and everyone after having his Katzchen ripped away from him.

~_No! Never! That will never happen; I'll make sure of that. ~_ He thought, but the images, while pushed to the back of his mind, continued to fight for attention; reminding him he wasn't entirely of human descent.

Azazel's smirking face came to mind and he shivered.

~_I won't be like that...never again. ~_

oOo

Kurt eventually got up and used his fingers to comb out his fur in the bathroom before creeping downstairs. Holding true to his codename he stayed in the shadows, only if someone was really looking would they be able to see his eyes.

With a detached interest, he took in the decor of the Logan household. Everything was basically wood and the main color scheme was most prominently, browns, greens and royal blues. It had a very warm feel to it and Kurt could picture a little Rogue running around.

He sighed before catching the sound of voices and crept closer. Past experiences had taught him to always listen before jumping in, it had saved his skin, or pelt really, more than once in his days as a thief.

"So what's the plan now?" that was Scott's voice.

"Well, first we need to do a check on the other's states; it wouldn't do for one of them to go into a panic attack or something similar." Hank supplied calmly.

Kurt listened hard to catch the next bit.

"Mainly, we need to find a place safe enough for everyone as well as find a way to convince the people that we aren't dangerous." The Professor mused.

Logan snorted, "Good luck with that, Chuck. With characters like the Brotherhood and Mystique runnin' around, we'll be lucky not to be shot on sight."

"Logan's right." Ororo backed up her husband, "No matter how dark his precognition is, it's probably the most likely. What we need to do, is find a way to address the congress and show them that we are peaceful."

Kurt's shoulders slumped, so far, it didn't sound like anyone had a truly solid plan on how to get them back to, what they considered, normal life.

"Well, we should address the most imminent point of interest." The Professor spoke up.

"Which is?" Logan questioned.

"Well, this conversation is no longer private. Come out Kurt."

Feeling his cheeks warm up in embarrassment he stepped into the living room with a slightly sheepish grin.

"And what do you have to say for snooping?" Jean questioned, hands on her hips.

Kurt smirked, his abashed demeanour leaving immediately.

"That I'm out of sneaking practice."

oOo

Once everyone else had woken up ad had something to eat, there was still the problem of planning their next move.

"Anyone have a secret hide out we can hole up in for a decade or two?" Wanda asked sarcastically.

"Not unless you count deserted churches." Kurt added, monotone as he crouched on the back of the couch behind Kitty.

"Not helping Creature." Marie mumbled beside Kitty.

Kurt shrugged helplessly and Evan patted his knee from his place on Kitty's other side.

"Alright, currently our plan is to just stay off their radar." Scott informed them, 'leader' voice.

Kurt growled softly, only audible to Logan who quirked an eyebrow.

"Anything else Scooter?" Wolverine asked, not taking his eye off of Kurt.

"Not really, no."

"Alright, in that case, here's my plan: We get to Washington and talk to the President himself."

There was an immediate uproar.

"Are you crazy?"

"You do remember it vas a _mutant _that attacked him right?"

"Who the Hell are you and what have you done with Logan?" the last one came from Evan, not to anyone's surprise.

Wolverine waited for everyone to die down before speaking again.

"All _very _good points." He muttered sarcastically, "And trust me Porcupine, it's still me. If we were back at the mansion you'd be in the Danger Room right now just to prove that."

Spyke paled.

"As I was saying...those are all the reasons we should go talk to him _now_. Get everything cleared up before it turns into mass panic."

Everyone stared at Logan, had he just suggested a way to fix a problem that didn't include destruction and death by decapitation?

Seeing as the sky was still blue and Evan could see no flying pigs outside, the answer was yes.

oOo

A/N: I have no idea where that last part came from; I'm very hyper right now.

Note to self: Never write while eating Reese's Pieces and Sprite.


	12. Waking to a Nightmare

Chapter 12: Waking to a Nightmare

Disclaimer: -sings the most annoying song ever...in a helium voice while juggling bottles of Coke and wearing bright pink, sequined dress-...Does that answer your question?

A note from Shadow's sister: BLACKMAIL! Woohoo!

oOo

Logan leaned against the wall, his arms crossed as everyone debated and what to do next. So far, they had come up with nothing.

Well, there was always his idea, but it was dangerous so they had that labelled as 'Plan B'.

He twitched slightly as his ears started to ring, again. It had been happening more and more often lately and he had no clue as to why.

He growled to himself and left through the front door. Bringing out a cigar he lit it and leaned against the porch railing taking a deep drag and blowing out a cloud of greyish white smoke.

"Logan?" the Canadian turned around to see Kurt standing in the doorway.

"You alright?" Logan nodded.

"M'fine Elf...but what about you? Ya seemed kinda touchy in there."

Kurt sighed and leapt up to couch on the balcony, his toes curling around the strong wood firmly.

"It's just grating on my nerves...how helpless ve are." He said softly.

Logan nodded, even as Nightcrawler continued.

"I can't lose any of them, Logan. I'm...I'm scared of vhat vill happen if I do." Kurt hugged himself, looking down at the grass.

Logan breathed in through his nose and looked at the half-demon.

"Kurt...if anything happens...I promise, I won't let you destroy yourself."

Kurt looked at Logan, giving him an unnerving stare. Logan looked back just as hard.

"Trust me, kid. I know it's hard to do, but trust me."

Kurt nodded slowly, a small smile spreading across his face.

"Danke Logan."

Wolverine patted the teen's shoulder, "Anytime Elf."

"I promise the same." Kurt said unexpectedly.

Logan nodded, "I thought as much." He mumbled before wincing and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Logan?"

"Headache, it'll pass."

Kurt's eyebrows knitted together, "Logan...you can't get sick, you shouldn't be able to get headaches either."

Logan grumbled.

"_Logan_." Kurt stressed, something just felt wrong about this whole thing.

"It'll pass, Elf."

Kurt continued to stare at Logan, not even blinking as the Sun slowly set, throwing strange shadows across the lawn and house.

Wolverine shook his head as the headache escalated before one phrase echoed through his mind.

~_Kill them! ~_

Logan growled, his pupils dilating as his claws slid out and he slashed to the side blindly.

Kurt -having seen the change in Logan's demeanour- flipped out of the way, letting the claws slice through the railing where he'd been sitting mere seconds before.

"Logan!" he yelled, trying to shake the older mutant from whatever trance he was in.

"What's going on?" everyone inside had no doubt heard the commotion outside. Ororo was seconds from stepping out onto the porch, and no doubt, into death's arms as well.

Logan, being alerted by the sound of her voice, whipped around, claws milliseconds from slashing into her abdomen before Kurt tackled him with a snarl. They both crashed through the railing and tumbled onto the lawn.

Kurt heard several screams and yells of both their names, but he could only focus on keeping Logan away from the house.

"Kurt!" that was Kitty's voice.

~_I'm sorry Katzchen. ~_ He thought as he whipped around and snarled at all of them.

Kitty stepped back quickly, terror in her eyes. Kurt felt his heart break, it was the same look she'd worn right before he'd been about to kill her as _Muerte_.

~_I'm so sorry. ~_

He turned back to Logan, his tail lashing angrily before he tackled the man again, barely missing his claws. Feeling a large amount of disgust at his actions, he sunk his fangs into Logan's shoulder. The older mutant roared and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and threw him like a rag doll across the lawn. He hit the shed, having the wind knocked from his body and fell to the ground, coughing.

He spit out some blood, feeling nausea crawl through his stomach, but didn't pay it mind as Logan charged him again, murder in his eyes.

He stood and waited until Logan was seconds from him before jumping again. This time he landed behind his mentor and used his back, and Logan's forward motion, to throw the older man forward.

Kurt tumbled forward before landing and turning around, staying in a low crouch on all fours. His eyes stayed sharp on Logan. His chest heaved as he panted for breath, adrenaline flooded his system causing all his senses to get hyped up enough that he felt like he was on some kind of high.

He swallowed as Logan ran at him again.

~_He's not going to stop until one of us is dead. ~_ Kurt thought.

He chanced a look over at everyone crowded on the porch as he flipped away from another one of Logan's attacks.

Kitty was holding her hands in a praying position, barely touching her lips as she watched the battle with fearful and broken eyes.

Marie was straining against Hank as tear streamed down her face, belatedly, he noticed Scott was unconscious; most likely Rogue had lost control of her skin because of the stress.

Ororo was also being held back by Spyke who looked like he was just trying to keep from running in and joining the fight himself.

Wanda and Pietro were standing by helplessly, in positions that spoke of their readiness to defend the others if the need be.

In his distracted mind set, Logan was able to get in a hit, and a good one at that as Kurt felt a burning sensation as three adamantium claws created three, decent sized gouges across his chest.

He cried out in pain and flipped away again, praying his agility would be enough to help him stay in one piece before Logan snapped out of it, or he thought of a plan.

Panic was beginning to set in at the same time exhaustion did. Eyes looking around for some kind of way to get out of the mess he'd managed to get into, he leapt into a nearby tree to gain some time.

Logan seemed focused on him for now, so he would take advantage of that.

~_Ah hell, I'm screwed either way! ~_ He thought as a plan finally formed in his mind.

~_I'm suicidal. ~_ was his last thought as he jumped down to land on Logan's shoulders. Seconds later, all that remained was a quickly dissipating cloud of black, sulphurous smoke.

His muscles spasmed and it felt like his skin was on fire as he did several quick teleports. He barely paused for a breath in between them before he had to stop. His lungs burned and every muscle and joint in his body was protesting movement of any kind. It literally felt like his body had decided to break down on him and he honestly couldn't blame it as he fell from Logan's shoulders to land on the blood splattered grass. He faintly heard his name in the background before he blacked out.

Logan groaned and his claws slid back into his knuckles as he held his aching head. Everything slowly came back into focus, like a TV being tuned properly as a storm passed.

~_Lord, what the hell just happened? ~_

Pounding footsteps made him look up in time to have an enraged Kitty jump at him and phase them both down far enough so his legs were firmly stuck several feet underground. She phased back up, breathing heavily and looking murderous before running around him and going to her knees. Logan twisted his head around to have his stomach drop.

Kurt was crumpled on the ground, three deep gouges in his chest. Looking down at his bloodied knuckles only one thought went through his mind.

~_Oh shit. ~_

oOo

Scott came to slowly, his head throbbing as he sat up slowly, hoping to not aggravate his head anymore. Jean was seated beside him, looking worried and tense and he immediately knew she didn't have good news for him.

"What happened?"

The red head looked up and sniffed, her eyes were slightly red.

"Logan snapped out of it." She started, "But Kurt…"

Scott's eyes widened under his shades, "Kurt what, Jean?" she didn't finish and he felt a stab of anger.

"What's wrong with him Jean?" he restrained himself from grabbing her shoulders and shaking her, knowing that wouldn't help anything.

She let out a shuddering breath, "It doesn't look good. He's lost a lot of blood. Hank got him stitched up but it's been touch and go for the last few hours."

Scott sighed, "How long have I been out?" it was another way of asking how long it had been 'touch and go'.

"About twelve hours." Jean replied in a slight whisper.

Scott swallowed, "And Logan?"

"Is currently going through a mind sweep via the Professor. Otherwise he's basically been quarantined."

Cyclops barely restrained himself from growling to himself, in the time their team needed to stick together, it was unravelling before their eyes. At the rate this was going they'd all end up dead before the government could even catch a trace of them.

It was not a happy thought.

Outside the door Evan was pacing back and forth in the living room, being watched by his sister, Wanda and Pietro. Kitty, Hank and Ororo were down the hall in the guest room with Kurt. Hoping to find some way to help the boy without anything more than the regular household First-Aid Kit.

In other words, they were on the brink of insanity and hoping to find a ray of sunshine through the dark hurricane clouds that had overshadowed the New Orleans that was their lives.

Wanda felt trapped. One of the few people she considered family, one of the few people she loved was on the edge of life and she was helpless to do anything. What good was being able to affect probability if you couldn't…

Her head shot up as she was hit with inspiration. Jumping from the couch she ran down the hallway, much to the others' shock. She ignored them and started banging on the guest room turned hospital room door. It was opened by a tired looking Ororo and Wanda grinned.

"I've got an idea."

The weather goddess sighed, "We'll try anything at this point." She stepped aside and the Scarlet Witch stepped inside to be met with a scene straight from a Hollywood drama.

Kitty was sitting at the beside, stroking Kurt's face as Hank tried numerous things to close up the wounds on Kurt's chest, they were so deep that it was difficult to tell if they'd done any worse damage to him than the eye could see. Kurt was also barely breathing, each breath he took seeming to take monumental effort from the unconscious boy.

"Kitty?" the brunette looked up, her faced stained by tear tracks. Her normally bright eyes were dull and filled with an utter hopelessness Wanda recognized as one she'd seen in the other patients in the asylum. They were the eyes of someone who felt their entire life was gone. It made her shiver but she approached the girl anyway.

"Can I try?" her voice was quiet, the thick, cloying silence of near death daring her to break it with hope.

Shadowcat looked down at her boyfriend, before nodding slowly.

Wanda took a steadying breath and cracked her knuckles before gently nudging Hank away. The large blue man gave her an odd look before taking up a place beside Ororo near the door. He wrapped an arm around the woman, hoping to convey some sort of reassurance to the woman whose entire life was just pulled out from under her.

The Scarlet Witch placed her hands on Kurt's chest and closed her eyes. She ignored the dampness and stickiness of the blood soaked fur and delved into the place she always pulled her powers from. The tentacles of power leapt to her hands and they were soon alight with a bright blue aura. An aura that slowly spread over Kurt's injuries.

In her mind she slowly changed the probability of Kurt healing quickly from 2:100 to 300:4. She may have been overdoing it slightly, but she needed to get this right the first time. She doubted there would be a second time if she didn't.

Nothing happened at first, but then there were several sharp gasps. Wanda didn't dare glancing down in fear she would break her own trance and focused on pushing her power into Kurt. Her mind's eye could 'see' the muscles knitting back together. Tissues mended and became perfect as his heart slowly started speeding up, sending fresh blood through his body.

Kurt jumped up under her hands and she finally opened her eyes to meet a pair of glowing ones. Kurt was staring at her with a look of shock on his face and the blue aura crept back to her hands before disappearing.

Kitty was crying again, now in relief as she hugged Kurt who didn't look away from Wanda.

She felt a little uncomfortable under his gaze and ducked her head. A large hand on her shoulder made her look to see Hank smiling at her proudly.

"Thank you." Kurt spoke, his voice strained. Kitty looked up as well, her expression speaking louder than words.

Wanda could only smile and squeeze Kurt's hand before carefully backing away and leaving the room. She'd never done something like that before. She'd never even _thought_ she could do something like that. She felt drained and knew that it had taken a lot out of her, but the look on their faces had been more than worth it.

She'd just saved her friend's life; maybe they had a chance in this after all if such miracles like that were possible.

oOo

A/N: This chapter was weirdly hard to write. It gave me a bunch of problems and this isn't the first version of it either.


	13. God Knows How Many

Chapter 13: God Knows How Many

Disclaimer: I've said it before I'll say it again, I don't own the X Men.

Logan felt terrible. That was the only way to describe his current mindset. He'd never been sick –at least not to his memory, not that that was much to go by- but right then his stomach was doing back flips and his head ached. He'd hurt the Elf. He'd nearly _killed_ Kurt, of all people.

The Wolverine was not one to admit failure or weakness but he felt like the lowest person on the planet. Kurt could be dying right at that moment and it was his fault.

"Logan, I need you to pay attention right now." The Professor's voice cut through his turbulent thoughts like a hot knife through butter.

"What happened up to the point where you attacked Kurt?"

Logan took a careful breath and went back in his mind, "I had a headache and then…something told me to…" ~_To kill you all. ~_ he couldn't admit it out loud but Charles read it loud and clear from his mind.

"I see…Logan I'm going to make a guess here and say that something in your past in affecting your current actions."

Logan nodded and leaned his chin on his chest. He was still waist deep in the earth, Kitty having not taken the time to release him. He was actually glad because that meant he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else.

"How's the Elf?" he asked hesitantly.

"He's going to be fine. Wanda was able to help him." He didn't offer any more of an explanation and Logan wondered for a moment if Charles thought he had purposefully attacked Nightcrawler.

A stirring of anger bubbled up in him at the thought and he fought to squash it. Chuck wouldn't betray him like that.

~_But you also said you'd never hurt any of the kids now didn't you? ~_ a voice popped up in his head.

If it was at all possible he started to feel even worse.

oOo

Inside, Marie watched from the window as the Professor interrogated her father. So many conflicted emotions were going through that without even knowing it she was in a very similar position to her father.

"Hey sis." Someone spoke tentatively from behind her and she whipped around to see Evan standing there, looking a little nervous. She couldn't blame him though, she was back in a long sleeved shirt and gloves because she'd been unable to keep her control over her skin. She still had Scott in her head but she'd been able to push him to the back of her mind to be left with her own thoughts.

"Hi Evan." She turned back to the window and crossed her arms over her chest.

"How you holding up?" he stood beside her. She could feel his eyes on her but didn't turn to meet them with her own.

"Okay I guess…How's Kurt?"

"Sleeping. Kitty's having something to eat, you hungry?"

She shook her head and they stood in silence for a few seconds.

"You know…we have a pretty big family when you think about it."

She finally turned to look at him with confusion but he was now looking out at the front yard, his eyes far away.

"Well, we're siblings by marriage and Kurt's you're brother by adoption so that sort of makes him my brother too. Mystique's yours and Kurt's mom, relating her to me again in a very mixed up way. Kitty's eventually gonna marry Kurt, adding another sister to the family. Then Kurt's parents are pretty much our aunt and uncle. The list goes on and on."

Marie finally cracked a small smile, "Yeah…Ah guess you're right. What brought those thoughts on anyway?"

He turned and grinned, "We aren't as alone as you may think." He squeezed her hand before leaving to the kitchen.

Rogue looked after him with a small smile before following; she was kind of hungry now that she thought about it.

oOo

Kitty, now that she knew she wasn't about to lose Kurt, was in the kitchen helping Ororo make sandwiches for a late dinner/early breakfast. With the fact that they were all running on adrenaline it was a solid guess to say no one would be sleeping for a little while.

Ororo was very quiet as she worked and Kitty didn't try and start a conversation. The weather goddess hadn't spoken in several hours and no one wanted to push her.

Evan and Rogue entered and they were all (all being Kitty, Ororo, Evan, Rogue, Pietro and Wanda) sitting at the kitchen table or on the counters when Hank entered. The large blue man had probably slept the least out of everyone and it was starting to show.

"Hank why don't you get some sleep?" Ororo finally spoke.

He gave the African woman a warm smile, "I will in a little while, thank you Ororo. For now I'm going to go speak with the Professor and Logan." The man waved off the offered food and left through the side door.

Pietro was tapping his foot impatiently after he finished eating –aside from Kurt he ate the fastest out of everyone- before standing up and starting on the meagre dishes.

"Pietro you don't have to do that." Ororo chastised.

He threw her a smile, "No problem Mrs. L, I need to do something before I go nuts."

Wanda nodded in agreement, "His room was always obsessively clean when we were kids because he got bored so easily. Mom loved it…Plus he would always clean my room to." The girl smirked at the memory.

"See?" Pietro grinned before he continued washing the dishes.

Ororo sighed before smiling fondly –the happiest expression they'd seen on her face in the last few days- and sat at the kitchen table.

"I'm going to go see if Kurt's up and hungry." Kitty stated before taking a plate of sandwiches from the table and standing. Leaving the kitchen, where the air was starting to clear of the tense energy that had been filling the house, she walked down the quiet hallway and phased through the bedroom door to see Kurt standing in front of the back window.

"Hey Fuzzy, you hungry?"

He turned around and gave her a half smile, "Sure."

She walked over and handed him the sandwiches before sitting down in the arm chair available.

"How's everyone doing?" he questioned as he bit into a sandwich.

"Better, Ororo's coming out her shock a bit and so is Rogue." Kurt nodded and finished his sandwich before taking another.

"And Logan?" Kurt wasn't angry at the man, he obviously couldn't control himself, he was only worried.

"Don't know. The Professor's been talking to him for the last few hours and Hank just went out to join them."

"That man needs to get some sleep before he passes out."

Kitty sighed, "Try telling him that."

Kurt made a noise of agreement as he finished eating.

"How's your chest?" she questioned.

Kurt shrugged, "A little sore, but I can breathe easy so I'm fine. Wanda did an amazing job."

Kitty nodded, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. Kurt noticed the sign of discomfort and tugged her up with his tail. Using her surprise to his advantage he quickly sat before pulling her back down and onto her lap. Kitty didn't fuss and made herself comfortable, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Now, are you going to tell me vhat's bothering you?"

She sniffed, "I couldn't do anything. You were…you were _dying_ and I couldn't do anything to help you." She whimpered softly.

He sighed and hugged her, "You couldn't have done anything Kitty, and I'm fine. I'm not going anyvhere."

Kitty nodded but still buried her face in his shoulder. Kurt could only hold her as she shook.

When Kitty finally calmed down her eyes were slightly red but she'd stopped shivering.

"You know, Wanda's still in shock over what she did."

He grinned, "Vell maybe ve should remind her that it vas a _good _thing that she did do it."

Kitty could only smile and stand, allowing him to get up so they could leave the room together.

oOo

Logan put his face in his hands, his elbows digging in to the dirt that he had yet to be pulled out of. Charles and Hank had gone inside as the sun reached its peak in the sky. He hadn't slept in over twenty-four hours and he was loathe to admit it but what he wanted at that point was a shower, food and a comfortable bed with twelve or more hours of uninterrupted sleep. Unfortunately it didn't look like he was going to get any of those things and he was left to be stuck in the cold ground, by himself with guilt hovering over him like a dark cloud.

"Herr Logan?" his head shot up and he saw Kurt was crouching in front of him, from the looks of it he'd been there for a few minutes. The odder thing was that he was along. Logan hadn't thought Kitty would let him out of her sight for a while, least of all if Kurt was with him.

"Logan?"

Wolverine let out a deep sigh, "Hey Elf."

"How are you doing?" Kurt moved into a more comfortable lotus position, his tail sweeping gently from side to side on the grass.

Logan could only stare at him in slight shock.

"Vhat?"

"How…why are you here, Kurt? I thought you'd be terrified of me."

Kurt snorted and got a slight grin on his face, "Logan how could I be scared of you? You're my friend, ja? You're my little sister's father aren't you? I'm not scared of you."

Oddly enough that seemed to be what Logan needed to hear because some of his guilt flitted away.

"Thanks Elf."

Kurt shrugged, "Don't mention it…Did the Professor figure out vhat happened?"

Logan frowned, "No. Hank thinks something might be going on with my head, but without an x-ray machine or any other of that stuff he can't tell for sure."

"Great." Kurt muttered, "So basically ve're stuck betveen a rock und a hard place."

"Something like that."

"Yippee." Nightcrawler blanced his elbows on his knees and put his chin in his hands.

"Any ideas?" he questioned.

"Not one." Logan replied gruffly.

Kurt sighed, "Hopefully someone smarter than us vill figure something out."

"That's why we have Kitty on the team." Logan stated with a slight grin.

Kurt smiled, "That and she's adorable."

oOo


	14. Recharge Cut Short

Chapter 14: Recharge Cut Short

Disclaimer: Do I own them? No. Do I want to? Yes.

Hank was confused. He was also running on two or three hours of sleep and coffee only. Now his hands were shaking, his eyes were red and he needed sleep…but he couldn't. He needed to get to the bottom of what had happened to Logan. His friend wouldn't just go berserk and attack someone who was as good as his son.

"Hank, you need to get some sleep. You won't do anyone any good if you pass out from exhaustion." Ororo startled him as she spoke from the doorway.

He nodded noncommittally, not looking up from the numerous computer print outs he'd gathered in the last few hours.

Ororo glared at his back before striding in and grabbing the scruff of his neck in a tight grip and yanking back. She wasn't strong enough to lift him up but the action was enough to make Hank finally realize just how serious she was.

"Kids! Can you all come here please?" she called out.

Hank would've paled as the students filed into the room. They all looked at the scene between Ororo and Hank and Kurt covered a laugh with a cough.

"I think it's time Hank got some sleep, don't you?" she asked in an overly sweet voice. Hank was vividly reminded of why Logan would listen and follow Ororo's orders. Storm was not a woman you wanted to piss off.

The young mutants all nodded in agreement and started towards Hank.

Kitty phased the chair out from under him; Kurt and Scott grabbed his arms and started pulling him out the door. Wanda and Rogue pushed him back in assistance and Evan and Pietro –struggling to contain their laughter- took their sisters' places once they got in the hall.

Ororo crossed her arms and smiled in a content way as they pushed Hank in to one of the two guest rooms.

"Sleep vell Herr McCoy!" Kurt chimed as they closed the door with a snap and locked it from outside.

Beast stared in astonishment at the door before Kitty phased her head in.

"Oh and Ororo said that if you try and get out, she zap your blue butt with enough lightening to turn you into a Christmas tree." She gave him a smile before pulling herself back from the door and leaving him in silence.

Hank continued to stare before shaking his head and climbing into the bed. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

oOo

The atmosphere inside the house had lightened by so much that Ororo believed she was dreaming. But there was one thing that reminded her she wasn't.

Her husband was still outside, locked in the ground. She watched from the kitchen as the kids relaxed in the living room. For these precious few seconds they could pretend everything was alright. For these precious few minutes they could just be teenagers. They didn't have to worry about the CIA or the FBI or the Marines coming in and attacking them and their loved ones, even if that dark cloud still hovered above them like cancer. You could ignore it, but that didn't mean it went away or the ache left.

With a sigh she left her post and walked out the side door. She pulled her knitted shawl tighter around her. While it hadn't snowed it was still the later part of winter and Canada was cold this time of year.[1]

She walked silently towards where Logan was stuck in the ground; the man had slumped over and was resting his head on his folded arms on the ground.

"Logan?" she thought he might be sleeping but he jolted and looked up at her sharply in surprise.

He tried to give her a smile and failed magnificently, "Hey 'Ro."

She sighed again and sat down next to him, she gently stroked the side of his face with her knuckles and he leaned into her touch.

"M'sorry 'Ro, I screwed up."

"Not your fault baby." She whispered softly, leaning over to kiss his cheek.

He gave her a sad smile, "How're the kids?"

She smiled gently, "Better. Much better."

He nodded before becoming alert and tense.

"Logan?"

"Shh!" he held up a hand to silence her and turned his head up to the sky.

"'Ro, get inside." He ordered.

"What?" she looked at him, confused.

"Get inside, Ororo!" he snapped.

Ororo jumped up and raced to the house just as the sound of helicopters met her ears.

"Everyone to the basement!" she yelled as she slammed the door shut.

Everyone looked up. Pietro, who was closest to the window, looked outside and paled before closing the curtains and grabbing his sister around the shoulders and hauling them both up. Wanda stumbled but he held her steady.

"Let's go! They're here!"

Kurt disappeared in a blast of black smoke and appeared a few seconds later with a dazed looking Hank.

"Come on, come on! We can get out through tha back door!" Rogue led them to the back door where they froze. Helicopters were quickly descending from the sky.

"We're trapped." She whispered, backing up into her mother.

"No we aren't. Not yet." Evan stated and turned to Kurt, "Can you port us into the forest?"

Kurt closed his eyes and did some quick mental math, "Ja, but I'm going to have to make a few trips."

Evan nodded, "Go."

Kurt wrapped his arms around Kitty, Pietro and Wanda and disappeared.

Rogue, Evan and Ororo waited in a tense silence with Hank, the Professor, Jean and Scott.

"We aren't going to make it." Jean whispered softly.

Kurt reappeared and didn't waste two seconds in grabbing Hank and the Professor before bamfing away again.

They all jumped when they heard someone knocking loudly at the door. Ororo wrapped her arms around her two children, hugging them to her.

"We aren't going to make it." Jean stated again quietly.

"Would you shut up?" Rogue snapped angrily.

Kurt reappeared and snagged Evan's arm just as the door was blown off its hinges as soldiers poured into the small house.

Time seemed to freeze as gunshots rang through the air. For Rogue it was like it was all occurring far away. She distantly heard Kurt yelp before porting away.

She watched through tunnel vision as Ororo was blown off her feet and hurtled into a wall. Jean tried to protect Scott and herself with a psychic bubble, but she was quickly knocked out and Scott was snagged by handcuffs.

There was a sharp snap and she felt cold metal around her wrists as handcuffs chained her hands together.

She was captured.

oOo

Kitty huddled against Evan; they both struggled to keep their breathing silent as they heard the rushed footsteps of soldiers pass their hiding place under a hollow tree. The entrance was hidden by tall grass and they'd pushed themselves back as far as possible. The only way they'd been able to get through the tiny entrance was by Kitty phasing them through. She clutched at Evan's torn shirt with a death grip; her face was covered by sweat, dirt and tears. Evan held her as close as possible, shaking uncontrollably. He too was covered in dirt and sweat, his short was in tatters and a cut along his arm was being protected by a torn strip of fabric from his shirt. A makeshift bandage Kitty had created upon seeing his injury.

The footsteps faded and the waited a few more seconds before relaxing. They'd gotten separated from everyone else as they raced through the woods to escape the soldiers that pursued them like rabid dogs.

"What did we do?" Kitty whispered in a scared voice.

"We were born." Evan replied, squeezing her shoulder before releasing her and slowly crawling forward.

His entire form was tense as he poked his head out of their hiding place. He didn't go any higher than to bring his eyes over the grass. For once he was incredibly thankful for his dark skin tone and upbringing in Africa. He'd learnt how to hide himself from a young age and was using those skills now.

"I think it's clear." He whispered. No sooner had the words escaped his mouth than he heard the sound of footsteps approaching them again.

His eyes widened and he scrambled back into the hole. Kitty was biting her lip and grabbed the back of his shirt, looking over his shoulder with wide eyes as the footsteps slowed but continued to come closer. From the sound of it there was only one person, but one person plus a gun could still capture them or worse.

The crunches of feet on underbrush stopped just in front of the entrance to their hiding place and they both stopped breathing.

The grass was pushed aside and two glowing gold eyes appeared.

"Kurt!" Evan dropped from his crouch to a sitting position and leant back against the dirt and wood.

"Evan? Keety?" Kitty grabbed his hand and phased him in alongside them before grabbing him in a tight hug.

"Thank God you're alright." Kurt hugged her back fiercely.

"Have you found anyone else?" Evan asked, coming out of his shock.

Kurt sighed and released Kitty, "No...I'm sorry Evan." Spyke couldn't see his expression –Kurt having disappeared in the shadows leaving only his eyes truly visible- but he heard the remorse in Nightcrawler's voice.

"It's alright Kurt. I'm sure we'll find them." He tried to make his voice light, but he wasn't a very good actor.

Kurt nodded before Kitty phased him out, then did the same with Evan.

As they stepped into the sun and looked around they saw that the soldiers' path was easily seen due to the broken foliage and flattened terrain.

"So what's the plan?" Evan and Kitty looked to Kurt who stared at them in surprise.

"Whoa...whoa...vhy are you guys suddenly looking to me for leadership?"

"You're the oldest and you've been on your own before, we haven't." Evan explained.

Kurt sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair. He didn't look any better than them. Dirt and sweat caused his fur to be matted and his clothes weren't any better than theirs.

"Okay...ve should try and find a few of the others or if all else fails, get into town. Maybe someone there vould be villing to help us."

Again, it wasn't a rock solid plan but it was all they had so Kurt grabbed the two of them and ported them in to the trees to avoid detection better.

The managed to clamber from tree to tree at a slow pace; Kurt was having the most ease with it, followed by Evan but Kitty needed help. Her fear of heights was fairly disabling and she wasn't as confident as the two boys in climbing trees.

As the sky started to darken Kurt glanced down at his image inducer and saw it wasn't even four in the afternoon. Glancing up he saw it was black storm clouds blocking the sun and he felt the stirrings of unease.

"Crap." He muttered before swinging back to the trees where Evan was helping Kitty to the next tree.

"Ve've got problems." He stated, clinging to a branch just above them.

"No shit Sherlock." Evan stated sarcastically. Kurt gave him a confused look, the American sarcasm throwing him off for a second before he blew past it.

"Look up."

Shadowcat glanced to the sky and paled. "Electrical storm plus high tree...that's not an equation I'm fond of."

Kurt nodded, "Ve need to get to low ground." He grasped their shoulders and ported them to the ground just as thunder drummed their ears and lightening cracked the sky. Rain soon followed soaking them in seconds. The only good thing that came out of this was that the dirt and sweat was washed from their bodies.

"I'm praying this is my mom's doing." Evan stated as they rushed through the trees in search of safe cover.

"You and me both." Kurt stated as he bounded over a fallen tree.

Kitty was close to her breaking point. First she's attacked in the middle of the night, then she's forced from her home where she got into an argument with her boyfriend, _then_ she reaches her old house and forced to hide with the knowledge that if she's seen using her powers or revealed as a mutant she's as good as dead. When she finally thought they'd caught a break, her boyfriend is _attacked_ by her best friend's father and nearly killed, only to be healed and then they're attacked _again_ and now they're on the run, in the rain, with no supplies and no clue of what to do.

Giving up sounded quite wonderful at that moment.

So lost in her thoughts she didn't notice when she slipped and started falling forward only to be caught by Kurt who had ported back to help her in the first place. Looking up at him he smiled slightly, his indigo hair falling in front of his golden eyes.

She had to smile back and pray that they had some hope left. That they would make it through this and maybe, just maybe, go back to their regular (or not so regular) lives

oOo

The rain continued to pour down in unrelenting sheets and they struggled to make their way through the muck and gloom. Kurt knew it was going to take a good amount of time to wash the mud from his fur. Of course that was low on his priority list at the moment, being topped by 'survive' and 'find the others'.

"Any sign of…anything?" Evan called from the back of their rag tag group.

Kurt sighed and called back, "Nothing."

Kitty was shivering and hugging herself as they trudged on, "We seriously need to find a place to hole up until this passes."

"I agree with Kit." Evan complied within a second.

Kurt nodded and closed his eyes, searching for a few minutes before he felt a relieved smile come to his lips, "There's a hollow tree just a few feet ahead."

"Let's go!" Evan and Kitty announced.

They managed to reach the tree in a few minutes and quickly found themselves curled up together on the cool earth.

"So much better than the rain." Kitty stated as she huddled closer to Kurt who was curled around her.

"You're not kidding." Evan chattered and he rested his head on Kurt's back. They were really just a tangle of limbs trying to stay warm. Any other time they would have felt incredibly uncomfortable, but these were special circumstances.

oOo

[1] Personal experience talking!


	15. Broken and Desperate

Chapter 15: Broken & Desperate

Disclaimer: As I have said from the beginning, I do not own the X Men, sheesh…

When morning rose Evan found that he was sore, stiff and it felt like someone had poured a bucket of sand and water over him and allowed it to dry. That wasn't too far off though as on closer inspection, he, Kurt and Kitty were all covered in a layer of dirt and grime.

"Gross." He muttered as he stood, nearly hitting his head on the low, knotted ceiling of the hollow tree they'd taken refuge in. Grimacing he snuck out of the hovel and out into the cool morning light. The rain had stopped sometime while they slept and in its wake it left a muggy and damp atmosphere. Leaves and forest debris sunk down into the earth as he stepped down.

"Very pleasant." He said to himself before stretching his arms above his head to get his blood circulating. As he stretched he got a better look at their surroundings, before noticing something they hadn't seen the night before in the mad rush to shelter.

"H-hey guys!" he called in a shaky breath, not looking away from his find.

"Wha?" two very groggy voice came out of the hole.

"Vhat is it Evan?" Kurt's voice became clearer.

"You might want to come out and see this."

Kurt came creeping out, grumbling to himself, "All right, vhat…oh…dear…Gott." He stood by Evan and stared with a loose jaw at what was stuck in the trees not forty feet away from them.

"What is going…" Kitty gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.

A helicopter had crash landed in the trees, getting caught in the branches and the blades were broken and scorched, having been destroyed by –most likely- a bolt of lightning. The body of the chopper was also scorched and scratched, the emblem on the side was barely recognizable as the same one on the planes that attacked the mansion. But what really drew their eye was what was in the clear box that –while dented, scratched and chipped- was still in one piece.

"Mystique."

The female blue mutant was on her side and apparently unconscious, her red hair cascading behind her in a curtain. Her golden eyes were closed but her chest rose and fell with each breath.

"Holy…" Evan could only stare.

"This thing must've been caught in the storm." Kurt muttered as he carefully approached the downed vehicle.

"Kurt, what are you thinking? We should just get out of here!" Kitty stage whispered.

"They have her for a reason, Keety. Maybe she'll be able to tell us something."

Evan groaned, "Dude, now is not the time to be reconciling with evil family members."

Kurt carefully climbed up into the cockpit, looking towards the front he felt his stomach roll. The pilot and co-pilot weren't so much stabbed through the chest by debris and crushed by the crumpled roof as they were splashed and sandwiched into the metal, glass and leather.

Shaking himself he tapped on the bullet proof glass that encased his birth mother. It took a few minutes but she eventually came to and stared at Kurt in shock.

"H-how?"

"No questions from you, just answer ours." He hissed.

She continued to stare in a way that slightly unnerved him, but he blew past it and continued, "Vhat happened? Vhy vere ve all suddenly attacked?"

Mystique looked down, "Magneto."

"Mag-whato?" Evan questioned.

"_Magneto_." Mystique growled.

"Get to the point. Vhat does this…Magneto have to do vith the attacks?" Kurt barraged on.

She sighed in an annoyed way, "Look I don't know the whole story, just that he and your Professor were once friends. He helped build Cerebro."

Kurt nodded, mentally filing the information away for future use.

"He was captured a few years ago, before Cerebro was completed and any of you joined Charles." She got into a more comfortable sitting position and crossed her blue legs, "He's been in a high security prison ever since."

"Yeah, so?' Kitty crossed her arms, glaring up at the woman.

"So, little girl, he's the one that told Stryker about Cerebro's whereabouts."

A look of understanding crossed Kurt's face, "He didn't vant us…he vanted Cerebro. Ve vere just the red herring."

"Red herring?" Evan asked in a confused voice.

"Something extra, or a decoy." Kitty informed him.

"Ve vere just the distraction so he could get vhat he really vanted." Kurt whispered in a horrified voice.

"A means to locate all mutants…and kill them." Mystique stated.

"But, he would need the Professor, or some other psychic, to run Cerebro, wouldn't he?" Kitty asked in a worried tone.

"And do you know _where_ Charles is?" Mystique smirked.

Kurt growled at her, his own fangs flashing, "That's enough out of you."

Mystique smiled evilly up at her son, "You're going to need me."

Kurt glared, "I vent seventeen years vithout needing you, I think ve'll be fine." He snarled before leaping down to the ground.

"Do you even know where to start looking?" she called, making them all freeze and turn around to face her.

"I know where Stryker's base is, and I can lead you there."

They exchanged glances, "How else are you going to find the Professor in time? Ask for directions?" she spoke in a mocking voice.

Kurt sighed and looked to Kitty, self-loathing in his eyes, "Get her out."

oOo

"Let meh out!" Rogue shrieked as she struck the glass door of her cell with two fists.

A soldier glared at her from the other side, "Shut it mutie, you ain't worth the air you're using."

She held in the urge to stick her tongue out at the man and went for a different approach, freak the bejeezus out of them.

"Mah brother is not going to be happay when he comes to get meh."

"No one's comin' to get ya'." The man drawled in a tired voice.

"Oh really? He's descended from the devil you know, closely related by blood."

"Is he now?" he feigned interest.

"Oh yeah. He's the devil's son, and when he finally comes to get meh, he'll kill you." Her voice darkened.

"Well I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, won't I?" the man smirked at her over his shoulder, "Now what's your brother's name?"

Rogue gave him the darkest glare she could muster, "Nightcrawlah."

"Right, well I'll be sure that this…Nightcrawler, get's a nice comfy cell right beside you. You two can chit chat."

"Trust meh, you won't get the chance to hear any 'chit chat'."

oOo

Charles calmly stared across the table at Stryker.

Colonel William Stryker stared right back.

"Now, Professor Xavier, I can promise the safety of your students if you do one thing."

"I will never activate Cerebro for you, William."

The only reaction the Colonel had was that of anger flashing through his slate grey eyes.

"Well, no see here, Xavier. You're not in much of a place to bargain, are you? In case you haven't noticed, you're in cuffs, and I'm not. You're students are in my cells. And your instructor is under _my_ control."

"What?" The Professor's calm air left as he was thrown for a loop.

Stryker held back a smirk, "You didn't wonder _why_ Wolverine suddenly went berserk. Oh he and I go way…_way_ back."

"What did you do to him William?" Charles' voice was ice cold.

Stryker smiled to himself, "Nothing he didn't agree to, Charles." He laughed darkly, "Nothing he didn't agree to."

oOo

Logan was strapped to a table. Heavy adamantium restraints kept his arms and ankles in place and a thick leather belt was around his stomach, another band was over is forehead keep him from moving his head to either side.

"So, Wolverine…after so long you come crawling back to me." Stryker sauntered into the room, hands behind his back and acting like he was the King of the World.

"Decided to come racing back to me when all goes dark, huh? Doesn't seem like you're in too bad of shape either old boy."

Logan growled, "Come over here and I'll show you just how 'in shape' I am."

Stryker chuckled and walked over, patting Logan on the head and causing the feral mutant to strain against his bonds even harder.

"Now, now Logan. Those bonds have kept you in this long, who's to say they won't continue to do so?"

"Go screw yourself Stryker."

Stryker smiled, "As eloquent as always I see. No matter, we'll have all that nasty free-will taken care of soon enough." She patted Logan's head again, like he was some kind of pet.

"Sleep well Wolverine, and don't worry." He reached the door and smiled behind him, sick joy in his eyes, "We'll make sure you wife and daughter are taken care of."

The metal door slid shut on Logan's howls.

oOo

Ororo sat in the corner of her cell, knees drawn to her chest and chin on her folded arms. She hadn't spoken a single syllable when soldiers came in to taunt her. Not one word passed her lips that were set in a straight line of worry. Her son was out there; her baby boy was somewhere out there, in the world, by himself. It was every mother's worst nightmare.

The door slid open with the grating of metal on metal, it made Ororo's heart lurch at the thought of Logan.

"Ororo, isn't it?" Stryker stepped into her cell, "The boys tell me you've been very quiet. Much more quiet than your husband or step-daughter…Rogue, right?" his smile was cunning and sleezy, reminiscent of vipers and pythons.

"And what is your name?" she finally spoke, her voice surprisingly strong and unwavering.

He chuckled, "Colonel William Stryker of the U.S. Army. Head of weapon development and head scientist in the Weapon X Program."

"The Weapon X Program failed." Ororo stated calmly.

"…Did it now? How so?"

Ororo locked gazes with him, startling the older man with the ferocity in her blue eyes, "Logan is not under your control. You may have found some way to be the puppeteer, but be sure, the puppet's strings will eventually wear and break."

Stryker smiled, "Good use of words, Mrs. Logan, but we'll soon see who's is right."

Ororo stood swiftly, "Be forewarned, Stryker, you have my husband and you have my daughter."

"And I will soon have your son." He smirked.

Ororo's glare darkened, but her eyes started taking on tinges of white glow, "We will soon see what is strong, William, your fear mongering…or a mother's love for her children."

Stryker backed up as the air in the cell started swirling, the door opened as he stumbled back.

As it slammed shut the winds died down and Ororo backed up to fall back into her former position, burying her face in her arms she remained still, but silent tears coursed down her cheeks.

oOo

A/N: Ignore any spelling mistakes from here out, I just want to get this story finished and that means that there is _zero_ betaing in the future. So, very sorry for any inconveniences this may cause you, but you're smart people, you'll figure it out.


	16. Silver and Scarlet

Chapter 16: Silver & Scarlet

Disclaimer: See every chapter before.

Wanda was a dead weight on Pietro's back as he struggled to make his way through the woods. The rain had let up sometime during the night while they had rested, huddled together in a cave that Wanda's powers had whipped up. Of course then they'd been found by a pack of wolves just looking for a snack. So without thinking Pietro had pulled Wanda onto his back and taken off. His heart pulsed and his breath came in sharp bursts as his legs pumped; forward, don't look back. Never look back.

Still, he kept Wanda on his back, just in case they needed to make another quick getaway.

"Anything?" Wanda got out through chattering teeth, her borrowed jeans and sweater sticking to her skin from water. He wasn't much better.

"Nada." He muttered, repositioning his grip on Wanda so she wouldn't slip.

"I can walk." She argued.

"I know." He replied evenly.

She sighed and rested her face on the back of his neck, "I wish mom were here." She whispered.

"Me too." He replied after a few seconds.

Their mother had truly been a one of a kind woman. A fiery spirit surrounding a heart of gold. Her pale, creamy skin had been handed down to Wanda, along with her raven black hair and bright eyes. Although Wanda's eyes were sapphire blue, not emerald green like hers had been. She truly was their mother's replica. While Pietro had taken on their father's looks. His white hair, no matter his age, his skin was several shades darker and his slate grey eyes. But again, there were differences. Pietro's eyes were tinged with green, flecks of pine and emerald green dancing within the grey depths.

Shaking himself from memories long past he pushed aside a branch from his path and stopped. He could see the outskirts of a town, and where there was a town there was people.

"Wanda." He let her finally slide off his back. His little sister let out a relieved breath as she got the blood circulating in her legs again.

"Thank God." She muttered before they started down the slope they were on.

The sun had only rose an hour or so ago so the streets were empty, but all around them they could sense the habitants of the town stirring, awakening and readying themselves for the day ahead.

"Where do we start?" she asked quietly.

Pietro sighed, "I don't know. What would you say to two kids who came in looking like hell?"

"Well I would think that they were bad news for one." Wanda muttered pessimistically.

"Exactly."

She sighed this time, "So…"

"Hey, what the heck happened to you kids?" a man coming out a small store noticed them, his eyes wide in shock.

Pietro said the first lie that came to mind, "We were in an accident, we've been walking all night."

"Jeese, well come in here." He hustled them into the store that they now saw was a tiny bakery.

"Maggie! Maggie get out here!" the man called, heralding a woman with curly auburn hair to hurry into the room.

"Yes Donald? Oh My goodness!" she exclaimed upon seeing the twins.

"These kids were in an accident, been walking through the forest from the looks of it."

"Oh dear, well come on in dears, let's get you some clean clothes and some food."

Wanda and Pietro could only follow in slight shock as they were given fresh changes of clothes and hot showers before being sat down at a well scrubbed table with hot soup and buns in front of them.

"Eat up, eat up!" Maggie encouraged them. She needn't have said anymore as they dug in like starving animals.

After they had finished, and forced themselves upon Maggie to help with the dishes, they sat down again.

"Now, where are you two from? Is there anyone I can call to pick you up?"

They exchanged glances, "Well, that's just the thing. We were on a…field trip, with a few other kids from our class and we all got separated during the storm."

Maggie's hand flew to her mouth in shock, "Oh my goodness, well what do your friends look like, maybe someone else has seen them, or they wandered into town as well."

Wanda sucked on her bottom lip, but Pietro beat her to replying.

"Well there's two boys and one girl." He knew for certain no one else had gotten out, sadly enough.

"One of the boys is African American with blonde hair and brown eyes, he's got a slight African accent, but not too much and his name's Evan. The second boy is pale, really pale, with long, dark blue-black hair and dark blue eyes. He's a few inches taller than Evan with a German accent and his name's Kurt."

Here's where Wanda butted in, "The girl is really short, maybe five-four, five-five, long brown hair, light blue eyes, light complexion, petite and her name's Kitty."

Maggie nodded along, "Alright, I'll just place a few calls to see if anyone's seen them." She left the room and Wanda leaned back in her seat.

"God I hope they're okay."

Pietro forced a smile onto his lips and squeezed her shoulder, "I'm sure they're fine." The words sounded hollow to his ears.

They could faintly hear Maggie talking in the other room, but didn't strain themselves to hear her.

Suddenly they heard her exclaim something happily and she came into the room.

"A few people matching the descriptions you gave me are just down the street, come on." They left the bakery in a rush, jogging down the street to a café that if you didn't know where to look, you would miss it.

A bell chimed as they stepped in and Pietro and Wanda scanned the scantily filled room, before their hearts started pumping excitedly.

"Wanda!" Kitty was suddenly hugging her friend for all she was worth, while Evan and Pietro greeted each other in a more sedate fashion, but their smiles were wide and relieved.

"Where's Kurt? Is he…" Wanda's voice faded into worry.

Kitty blinked, "He's uh…"

"Right here." A voice said from behind them and the twins looked up to see an irritated, if relieved, hologram Kurt standing there.

"Oh thank God!" Wanda exclaimed.

"Ja, ve ran into some…help." The way he said the word told them it was anything but.

A woman came into their view and they felt their hearts pause before racing again.

The woman was tall, tin, pale and quite obviously related to Kurt.

"Turns out my…mom, was staying in town." He struggled with the word.

Maggie didn't catch on to the tense atmosphere though, "Well good, I'm glad I was able to help you kids. Be safe." And with that she left the café.

"Let's go." Raven faked a smile rather well and they all headed back out onto the streets and down to the edge of town.

"What is going on?" Wanda exclaimed once they were away from prying ears and eyes, "What the hell is she doing here?" she glared at the now blue woman.

Kurt's tail lashed, "She says she can help us find the others."

"And you believe her?" Pietro was shocked, he thought Kurt hated Mystique.

"No, but I'm the only one who knows where Magneto is." Mystique sounded very smug.

Wanda stopped, her face going ashen while Pietro turned on the woman with a fierce glare, "What does _he_ have to do with anything?"

Mystique smiled, "Who else told Stryker about Cerebro?"

"Hang on a second, how do you guys even know about this Magneto guy?" Kitty sounded confused.

"He's our father." Pietro ground out.

Kurt blinked, Evan looked like he was trying to catch flies with his mouth and Kitty just hugged Wanda.

"Wow, suddenly I don't feel so alone." Kurt looked to Mystique with unhidden hatred.

"Yep." Was all Wanda could get out through her shock frozen lips.

"Well, you know what Mystique, we don't need your help anymore because I know full well where my father is. So thanks or your help, but we'll be going." Pietro turned on his heel and started walking away, the others following quickly.

"And how are you going to get there? Walk? Run? Teleport?

Kitty's eyes flashed and she turned before getting right up in Mystique's face.

"Listen here Mystique, you may be Kurt's mother, but you gave up your rights in that when you abandoned him, we outnumber you so I wouldn't be getting cocky." Her voice was a hiss and rage burned in the blue depths of her normally serene eyes. The others could only watch in shock –and slight amusement- as Shadowcat tore into their enemy.

"We don't need your help because we have Pietro now. We won't need your help getting there because we're more resourceful than your Brotherhood boys and can and _will_ make it on our own. You are quite welcome to stay right there of your own free will or I can phase you into the ground right now. Make your choice."

The air was still and silent as the two female mutants stared each other down.

"Fine." Mystique finally said, "But mark my words, you will regret turning on me one day."

Kurt rolled his eyes, "Yeah, we'll be sure to remember that. Good-bye."

They all continued walking away in silence. It was only when they'd been walking for twenty minutes that Evan broke the silence.

"And good riddance."

oOo

Mystique watched the young X Men walk away with growing fury. After all the trouble she'd gone through, sneaking into the White House, attacking the President, letting him live just to instil fear of mutants, getting into Magneto's prison to break him out only to learn of his plan to turn the X Men to their side. And even if that didn't work, there'd be one less team to oppose them as they fought to have homo-superior reign over the homo-sapiens.

All for naught.

Her teeth grated together and her hands clasped into fists at her sides. This wasn't over, they wouldn't win. Magneto would win, no matter what his twins, or her pathetic excuse of a son, did.

oOo


	17. Alkali Lake

Chapter 17: To Alkali Lake

Disclaimer: In the famous words of William Shakespeare : "To own or not to own, that is the question." And my answer: Not to own!

**A/N: (read this now or you are an idiot!) Seeing as Alkali Lake is a fictional place, and nothing more is known about its location other than the fact that it is in Canada, I had to figure out where it's exact place is. So, for story purposes and the likelihood of it being close to the Great Lakes, Alkali Lake is located several miles outside Moffat, Ontario, Canada.**

The group, now two larger, walked slowly down the side of the highway. Sun reflected off of the occasionally passing car and into their eyes, but not one stopped. They were just glad they had such a large group, to defer people from trying to attack them. If they were going to be completely honest with themselves, there were some people with serious issues out there who weren't above grabbing a teen from the side of the road.

Wanda and Kitty were in the front of the group with Evan, quietly conversing between themselves, Pietro was in the middle of the group, hands deep in his pockets as he followed, finally Kurt was at the very back, a frown firmly in place on his holographic features and a dark look in his eyes.

Pietro looked over his shoulder and finally saw his friend's expression. Having never really seen Kurt furious he was slightly perturbed, but then he thought about what had really just occurred. Kurt had had to face his mother, and work with her even for a small amount of time, something Pietro realized he was going to have to do with his father soon in the future.

~_Damn. ~_

Shaking his head he fell back slightly and poked Kurt's shoulder.

"You okay?" his grey eyes stormy with worry.

Kurt shook his head, fighting a frustrated growl, "Not really. I'm exhausted, stressed and just had to endure my mother. I've been better."

Pietro couldn't do anything more than give his friend a sympathetic smile and pat his shoulder as they continued walking in silence.

"Hey, we're here!" Evan called. They'd made it to a small bus stop, by now they were just a few hours outside of Springfield, Massachusetts.

"Good. We need to get to Moffat, Ontario. Alkali Lake is just outside Moffat." Pietro informed the group.

"Alkali Lake?" Kitty asked curiously.

"A secret government base, I learnt about it when I was in the Brotherhood. That's where they're keeping Magneto. And hopefully, everyone else."

Kurt observed the bus routes, "There's one that can take us to Syracuse. Let's just face it, we're going to have to take a few bus rides to get there."

"Okay, well now a new problem. How are we going to _pay_ for this?"

Everyone became silent at Evan's question but it was broken when Kurt sighed.

"Give me twenty minutes." He said softly in a flat voice.

"Kurt no!" Kitty's eyes widened, "You don't have to do that." She whispered fiercely. She knew he was going to steal from someone, and she knew how much he didn't want to.

Kurt unclasped Kitty's hand from around his arm and walked away without a word. Kitty stared after him before glaring and turning away to sit down on a bench and cross her arms, fuming.

"This is so not the time for a lovers' quarrel." Wanda muttered to her twin.

"We'll have to deal with it later." He replied tensely, seeing Kurt and Kitty fighting was bizarre.

Seventeen minutes later, Kurt came back, his face expressionless but $300 dollars richer.

Pietro and Wanda blinked and Evan shook his head as he took some of the money and went to purchase their tickets. Meanwhile, Kitty avoided looking at Kurt, but he made no move to talk to her either.

~_This is going to be fun. ~_ Wanda thought, readying herself for a two hour, tense bus ride.

oOo

From Albany to Syracuse, then another two and a half hour drive to Buffalo. There, the team slept in shifts as they waited for their bus to take them to Hamilton. Once there they had to travel across the city to another bus depot to wait for their 12 minute bus ride to Waterdown, and not once did Kurt and Kitty ever speak to each other.

The worst part of the whole thing was that it left the others stuck in the middle. Kurt refused to even acknowledge the others if they even made the slightest mention of making up with Kitty. While Shadowcat divided her time between glaring at Kurt, and avoiding conversation with anyone other than Wanda.

That was a fairly decent summary of their last 10 hours. Now that they were in Waterdown and trying to find a bus that would take them to Moffat. From there, they would have to walk to Alkali Lake.

"This is getting ridiculous!" Wanda hissed in Evan's ear, "How long has it been now?"

Evan glanced at his watch, "About…twelve hours. Longest they're _ever_ gone without speaking to each other that didn't include sleeping."

Pietro shook his head, "Well, they're going to have to talk to each other sooner or later."

"God, if they don't start talking soon, someone's going to take advantage of it, I just know it!" Wanda crossed her arms.

"Bus is here." Kurt informed them, making them jump. They hadn't heard him come up from behind them.

"Where's Kitty?" Evan questioned, not seeing the girl.

Kurt sighed, "You guys get in line, I'll find her." He didn't sound very happy about it.

They walked toward the boarding bay and Kurt looked around the sparse crowds. Kitty shouldn't be that hard to seek out.

He was right, he saw her by the door by the wall, looking fairly out of place as she scanned the crowds. Sighing in defeat he approached his girlfriend.

"Hey, come on the others are probably l already on the bus."

Kitty's look of nervous apprehension changed into one of annoyance as she glared at him, "Good, let's go."

Kurt frowned and grabbed her arm, "Now hold on, I don't think you're being fair."

She tugged her arm from his grip, "You didn't have to steal."

"Yes I did, it's the only vay ve could've gotten this far." He growled back, "It's not like I enjoyed doing it Keety."

She groaned, "We could've figured something else out."

"Like vhat?" Kurt nearly yelled, "It could've taken us twice as long to get here! Who knows vhat could've happened to the others in that time? We might already be too late!"

Kitty screamed slightly, "Look I don't know! I just didn't want my boyfriend to turn into a thief!"

"I'm already a thief, Keety! I have been since I vas seven! You can't change the past, so if you're going to hate me because I've had to steal, maybe this is all just a huge mistake."

She glared at him, "Fine! Then you can take _this_ back!" she tugged the ring he'd given her from her finger and pushed it into his hand, "Consider us broken up." She hissed and turned on her heel to head to the boarding bay.

Kurt clutched the ring in his hand and glared after her before following, stuffing the ring deep into his pocket.

oOo

Kitty sat beside Wanda with a huff and the Scarlet Witch stared without shame at her now ring-less finger. Several seconds later Kurt boarded, his face expressionless as he sat as far away from Kitty as he could beside Evan, arms crossed as he looked out the window.

The other three exchanged expressions of dread and looked between their friends before settling back for the 31 minute drive.

"Kitty…what…"

Shadowcat glanced to make sure Kurt wasn't looking or listening, before her expression fell and Wanda finally realized that Kitty's anger had all been a façade, at least for the most part.

"We broke up." She replied in a sad voice, but she wouldn't cry in public.

Wanda knew this, but still wrapped an arm around her younger friend, giving her the only comfort she could think of.

oOo

Reaching Moffat they were the only people to disembark the bus, and turned their backs on it as it continued on its route.

"This way." Pietro lead the way on what promised to be a very slow and very quiet journey to Alkali Lake.

They reached the forest sometime around three in the afternoon and pressed on through the trees, their pace now slowed by the terrain. The only person unaffected was Kurt, who took to the trees and disappeared from their view. But the occasional crack of a branch or sudden flight of birds from far above their heads reassured them that the blue mutant was still with them.

Kitty stumbled along behind the group, looking up every now and then, hoping to catch a glimpse of Kurt. She'd started to regret her words the minute they'd crossed her tongue back in Waterdown, and she wanted nothing more than to talk to Kurt, but she hadn't gotten the chance, and now he was farer from her than ever.

Evan sighed as they came to a clearing, "Let's rest here for a bit."

Pietro and Wanda collapsed to the ground, side by side and Evan joined them not long after. Kitty hugged herself and looked at her friends before glancing up again. She took a shaky breath before going to a tree, away from their view and phasing her hands and feet in. Then she slowly started to climb, avoiding looking down at all times. She was shaking badly by the time she reached the first branches and grabbed onto them fast and held tight, catching her breath.

"You should be on the ground." A hard voice said from above her.

She looked up and saw Kurt crouched on a branch, his tail swinging from side to side and his eyes glowing in the shadows of the branches and leaves.

"I want to talk to you." She replied.

Kurt continued to stare at her in a way that unnerved her to no end before he crept down the trunk to the branch she sat curled on. He crouched in front of her, his eyes silently telling her to start talking.

But now it seemed she had no words and she looked down, searching for words that had been on her tongue as she climbed. She searched through her mind for the right way to apologise, to say how she wanted to forget the entire fight. But she couldn't even seem to form the words 'I'm sorry.'

She took another shaky breath before looking up and sliding closer to him. Kurt didn't move, he sat completely still aside from his tail which still slid from side to side in the air.

Her eyes were wide as she leaned into him, her head on his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him. He still didn't move and she tightened her hug.

"Can I please have my ring back?" She whispered in his ear, her voice now thick with regret.

Kurt finally moved. His arms were around her and she felt his lips on the crook of her neck, trailing up to her ear, along her jaw and finally to her lips. And she knew she was forgiven.

Kurt smiled against her lips and pulled away, rubbing her fingers between his and she looked down to see her ring back in its place.

She smiled back up at him, "I…you were right, I'm sorry."

He sighed, "And I shouldn't have been so harsh, so I apologize as vell, mein Katzchen."

"Can we just forge the whole thing?" she pleaded.

He nodded, "I'd like that."

She sighed in relief and hugged him again, her eyes closed as she finally felt safe.

oOo


	18. Magneto

Chapter 18: Magneto

Disclaimer: A great many minds invented the X Men, I am not one of them.

Rogue felt completely helpless as she was pulled into a room that looked suspiciously similar to the ones on those science fiction movies Pietro was crazy about. She swallowed hard as she looked around; people in white lab coats, there were gloves and masks hanging on one wall, large machines, screens that were currently blank, and shelves upon shelves of chemicals and other liquids.

"And there she is, Wolverine's little girl." She looked up. Standing on a long observation deck above her head was William Stryker.

"Ladies and gentlemen it is a monumental occasion! For we have before us living proof that our very own Weapon X has been domesticated." His voice was mocking, high and mighty and Rogue glared at him.

"Come down here and Ah'll show ya just how docile mah dad taught me to be you self absorbed piece of shit." She growled.

A few of the doctors in the room looked shocked at the tone of voice she was using, but then again she was mixing the anger from all the voices in her head. She'd lost all control of her skin and with that loss came the roaring return of the voices of the people she'd absorbed. Most prominently, she was hearing both Logan and Kurt growling in her mind.

"Hmm, tempting my dear, but I'll have to pass." Stryker gave a malicious smile, "Strap her down!"

Marie thrashed as several foreign hands pushed her down onto a cool table and held her down with leather straps.

"Hold her still, we don't want to tear any veins." Stryker was completely calm as he ordered the scientists to bring out a wicked looking needle.

Rogue quickly found that she couldn't budge, not even move her head. Her breathing quickened as they brought the needle close to her skin. She stopped breathing when it sunk in and they started drawing her blood.

She'd never been queasy around blood, but there was something about watching these people take her blood when she couldn't do anything about it that made her nearly hurl.

The needle was pulled from her skin, now filled with red liquid and the tiny blood dot left leaking from her skin was wiped clean and bandaged quickly. Rogue growled low in the back of her throat as they touched her. She didn't know what they were going to do to her, or why they were taking her blood, and she didn't want to know. All she knew was that if –_when_- she got free, they'd be dead.

oOo

"There it is: Alkali Lake." Pietro announced as they broke free of the trees.

"What are you talking about? All I see is a dam." Kitty stated.

There were standing on the lip of an empty lake, a dam directly across from them. The thick concrete structure appeared ominous for some reason.

"It's underground." Kurt stated, almost in shock as he jumped down from the trees to stand with them.

"Exactly." Pietro muttered.

"So how do we get in?" Evan broke the question on everyone's mind, once again making them wonder if he was partially psychic.

Kurt scanned the horizon, mentally tracing the large structure with his mind. From what he could tell, the base was several feet beneath the dam, but close enough to the surface that if the dam broke, the base would be flooded.

~_Wait…flooded…that's it! ~_

"Flood gates." He stated.

"Huh?" Wanda looked confused.

Kitty caught on quickly though, "Flood gates! So the dam wouldn't overflow and-"

"And ruin the base!" Evan looked ecstatic.

"So those gates would have to lead right to the base, they would also act as another security measure. Drown any trespasser!" Pietro finished.

"So all we have to do is find the flood gates." Wanda stated.

"And get in without being detected." Kurt added.

"Easy." Kitty stated smugly.

oOo

Two legs appeared in the ceiling of the tunnel, no one looked up because let's face it, the only thing above them was several feet of dirt and concrete.

The legs continued on to reveal a petite teenage girl who dropped soundlessly to the ground and hid around the corner from the two men. Meanwhile, the being she'd pulled with her through the stone and earth stuck to the ceiling, invisible in the shadows that cloaked him from wandering eyes and he snuck around the two soldiers who were leaning casually against the wall, guns on the ground.

The dark figure smirked and his tail snuck down to silently unstrap the knife from one of the soldiers' side. He did not notice when it's slight weight left, only to be transferred to the figure's three fingered hand.

Kitty, shaking badly as she watched the scene with knowledge of what was to come, closed her eyes and on cue, scuffed her shoe on the ground load enough for the two soldiers to jump to attention. Following the plan, Kurt dropped to the ground and slit one man's throat. The lifeless body fell to the ground with barely a gurgle as his partner twisted around only to have a fist planted squarely in his nose. He gasped in pain, raising a hand to his broken nose, the blood streaming down his face and dripping off his chin.

He barely noticed through the haze of pain as his hands were pulled behind him and tied, hardly catching the lightly accented voice saying, "Go get the others and bring them down."

Then he blacked out.

oOo

When the soldier opened his eyes again, it was to someone slapping him across the face. He jolted, attempting to sit up, only to find his hands still tied tightly behind his back. He looked up at his captors, and that's when his jaw dropped.

They were just kids. Five of them, he counted, then recounted, and it was the same every time. Five teenage kids, probably not old to even drink legally. They all had a distinctly beaten and weathered look about them. They all had dark circles under their eyes, but one, but that boy had a very odd look about him, almost unreal and the guard looked away fast.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." The girl who had been leaning over him hissed. She had extremely messy, back hair cropped close to the skin and bright luminescent blue eyes that held shadows that he didn't care to know the origin of.

"For now." The pale blonde boy behind her whispered, almost too quiet for him to hear. Maybe if he pretended not to hear it, he'd believe it was just the imaginings of a concussed and injured mind.

"What do you want?" he struggled to speak clearly, yes his nose was definitely broken, the cartilage smashed and stifling his voice.

"Directions. Where's Magneto being kept?" the unreal appearing boy asked. The soldier recognized it as the voice of the person that had punched him and glared at the teen.

"I won't tell you nothin'!" he returned fiercely.

He was able to catch a dark growl and the shocked –or slightly scared- looks of the other teens' faces, before that unreal boy smashed him up against the wall.

He found himself shaking, the sharp tip of a knife was against the soft and thin skin of his neck. Murder was in the boy's eyes.

"I'm asking you once more, vhere is Magneto being held?"

"Maybe we should just take him with us." The sprite like girl suggested, placing a hand gently on his attacker's arm. A part of him wondered how this girl could manage to even look at this demon-like being before him, let alone touch him.

"Good idea Shadowcat." He replied, dropping the soldier to the ground. The injured man coughed, almost making the young X Men pity him, but then they remembered that he was one of the men holding their family in prison, and that pity was replaced by loathing.

"Take us to Magneto." The final boy in the group ordered, buzz cut gold hair standing out sharply against his mocha skin.

The soldier felt a hand at the back of his neck, it was small and delicate but the girl's nails dug into his skin. Apparently the little sprite was more dangerous than she appeared.

"Fine." He spat and slowly started walking. He was surrounded by the teens, he had no doubt now that they were mutants, it was the only explanation as to how they'd snuck in. That thought both scared and disgusted him, how could these beasts get past the best security man had to offer?

He almost didn't want to know.

He led them down dank and damp tunnels, condensation dripping from the pipes that lined the ceiling. Lights flickered, casting the greenish grey stone of the walls into shadow and light periodically. Finally, they came to a door. It was much cleaner compared to the rest of the base, and made entirely of white and pale blue plastic. In fact, there was no metal anywhere near them.

"He's in there." The soldier intoned blankly, not looking forward to whatever was about to happen now that they obviously didn't need him.

"Many thanks." The unreal boy returned before swinging out and the soldier knew no more.

Kurt watched in detached curiosity as the man slumped to the ground, whether he was dead, alive or dying didn't matter to him in any way. By now his senses were hyped up, adrenaline was rushing through his system and he was eager to be moving, but they needed to be quiet, precise and more than anything, careful.

Seeing as they'd removed any metal from themselves before they'd even come down into the base, they started the second phase of their plan. Kurt fiddled around with his watch before taking on the exact appearance of the man he'd just decked.

With his friends hiding themselves, he used the fallen man's ID to open the automatic door with a soft _'fwoosh'_ before stepping in.

This room too was completely bereft of metal, everything was plastic. The guard on duty stood at his sudden appearance.

"What are you doing here, this isn't your sector."

Kurt walked silently over to the guard in question, and the man backed away, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.

"What the hell man? Say something!" his hand was hovering over the gun at his side.

Kurt smirked and the gun was out, five shots rang through the air and outside the door the others cringed and Kitty grabbed at Evan's shirt in a death grip, praying.

Kurt deftly flipped up into the air and smashed into the man, pinning him to the ground. The gun skittered across the floor and out of sight as the guard twisted and writhed, attempting to get away. As he thrashed, he hit Kurt's inducer and the poor piece of abused technology finally died. Kurt didn't care as the man doubly started to freak out, only growling low in his throat. He was stressed, tired, irritated and wrung out, this was a good outlet.

Not for the guard though.

The uniformed man soon found himself smashed up against the wall instead of the floor, the creature's breath was hot on his neck and despite himself he started sobbing.

"What do you want with me?" he cried.

"Absolutely nothing." The being intoned before the man felt six fingers wrap around his neck and start squeezing.

Kurt took pity on the man, and twisted his neck in a dangerous ankle, cutting off his torture. There was a sharp crack, the man's eyes rolled back in his skull and his body was lifeless as Kurt dropped him to the ground.

Perhaps he was over reacting, and no doubt once he came out of whatever blood thirsty mindset he'd fallen into he'd need some serious therapy, but right now his instincts were demanding blood, and he was loathe to deny himself.

Taking off his useless inducer and tossing it into the trash he opened the outside door and let his friends in. Kitty rushed into his arms, checking him over for injuries. The others took one glance to the desk, saw it empty, but could see someone's legs form the angle they were at. They shuddered and looked away, deciding they didn't want to know.

"Onward, I guess." Wanda muttered before they walked to the far door that had, until know, been unrecognized as a factor in their surroundings. They knew what lay beyond the block, and they were about to face it.

Kitty left Kurt's arms to walk to the key pad and start typing, within seconds she'd hacked into the system and the door slid open, the long plastic walkway stretching out to the clear prison cell, air filtering in.

The X Men exchanged glances between themselves. Wanda clutched Pietro's hand, and they led the way in, followed by Evan with Kitty and Kurt making up the rear. Their footsteps, made by dirty and tattered shoes –or in Kurt's place, two toed feet- they crossed the bridge and to the door that slid open at Wanda's raised hand.

The blue aura encased the doors that slid aside and they finally set their eyes on the prisoner. A man, white hair and older than he looked, had his back to them. Entirely dressed in white he sat at a table, a plastic chess set before him.

"Good evening, to what do I owe this surprise visit?" Magneto obviously had no idea just who was behind him.

"Answers, father, we're here for answers." Pietro replied, sounding surprisingly calm, aside from the tremor of ice that laced his voice.

Magneto spun in his seat and his eyes widened as they landed on his children.

Evan finally spoke, "Get ready for your worst nightmare."

oOo


	19. Interrogation and Adamantium

Chapter 19: Interrogation and Adamantium

Disclaimer: I have a dream to own the X Men, but it shall never be accomplished, for my plan to own them has over fifty thousand steps, most of which include either a flying monkey, Broadway stars, the destruction of the Jonas Brothers and Justin Bieber or a mutant tomato with laser guns.

oOo

Erik Lensherr stared in shock at the twins he had long forgotten about. For a second he had momentarily thought he was staring at his deceased wife, but no, this young woman standing before him had eyes hard as steel and an expression of utter loathing. The boy on the other hand, there was no doubt that it was Pietro. The flinty eyes and slicked back hair was a dead giveaway to the young boy he'd given to the Brotherhood.

He glared at the small ensemble of teens and stood, towering over them all.

"Exactly _why_ should I be fearful?" he directed the question at Evan with a cold voice.

"I don't know...maybe because you basically sent the entire _military_ to our home, destroyed everything, got our friends and family arrested and completely _ruined our lives_?" Kitty shrieked, eyes flashing dangerously as she approached the older mutant.

Magneto sneered down t the girl who was barely half his size, "I did nothing of the sort."

"Liar!" it was Wanda that yelled this time, a blue aura starting to creep over her hands and a few of the objects in the room.

"Control yourself, Wanda." Erik ordered forcefully, "This is why I sent you away, you have no control." His voice was a low growl.

Wanda only started to shake with suppressed rage and Pietro wrapped an arm around her, they needed Magneto _alive_.

"You told Stryker about Cerebro." Kitty prodded the older mutant in the chest, "You told him and sufficiently doomed every mutant in the world!"

His eyes widened slightly, but otherwise his expression didn't change, "I told Stryker _nothing_. My view is to have mutants _dominant_ in the world. What would I gain if I told him of a means to kill us all?"

Kurt growled and crossed his arms, lost all control of speech and replied in German, using an acidic tone that had no need for a translator. Simply said, Evan's eyes widened a bit but he nodded along, catching a few of the key phrases.

"How should we know how your twisted mind works?" Wanda was working herself up into a fury, "Maybe you made some stupid deal, maybe he brainwashed you, we _don't_ _care!_ We're just here to find everyone."

"And of what use am I then? Couldn't you just release the other X Men? Why not simply do that then escape? Why inform me of your presence at all?" Magneto's voice was incredibly calm.

Wanda's glare said it all; they wanted him to feel guilt. They came because they wanted him to hurt for what he'd done to them all, her in particular. He'd stolen the majority of her life from her, and she wanted pay back. It was petty and it was selfish, but she couldn't sit back and wait for karma to come and take a snap at the man, she had to do it herself.

He stared back at his daughter, "Very well, what do you want to know?"

"What has Stryker done?" Pietro replied promptly. While he and Wanda wanted revenge, they did need answers as well.

Magneto sighed, "You couldn't have chosen a simpler question?"

"Shut the hell up and answer!" Kitty snapped, bristling.

oOo

Marie looked up sharply as something hit the reinforced glass wall of her cell and startled her awake. Through the shadows and gloom she couldn't see anything.

"H-hello? Who's there?" she stood, keeping her back to the wall.

"Rogue?" a bright blue glow lit up the room outside and illuminated Wanda and Pietro's faces.

"You're here!" her face split into a smile, but before the twins could reply a loud voice filled the corridor.

"Eh, who are you lot?" Marie recognized it as the guard who had been antagonizing her before and she frowned.

"Don't vorry, I got it." She looked up and finally spotted her brother lurking among the shadows on the ceiling. Another second later he was gone in a 'bamf' and the front of Rogue's cell was melting at Wanda's command. Pietro sped into the destroyed cell and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend who hugged him back happily.

They stepped out of the cell to find the guard staring up at Kurt with fear in his eyes, "Wh-what are you?" he cried.

Marie couldn't stop the evil smile that came to her face, "I told you mah big brothah was related to tha devil."

The guard whimpered as Kurt gave him a fanged smile, but it was about as kind as Logan was a big fuzzy bunny rabbit.

"Guten Nacht." He hissed before kicking the man swiftly in the head and dropping him into unconsciousness.

Marie let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, "Ah can't believe ya'll are here...wait, where's Kitty and Evan?" she panicked, looking around wildly.

"They're waiting back in the control room and watching the security cameras." Pietro explained as the rushed towards the rest of the team.

The doors they came to were also melted, more proof of Wanda's power use and they continued on unhindered to the control room where Evan was watching several monitors and Kitty was typing away at a massive computer. She turned around as they entered and left her post to hug her best friend, stepping back only to let Evan hug his step-sister.

"Glad you're okay." He murmured before stepping back.

"Vhat have you got Katzchen?' Kurt questioned, joining his girlfriend at the computer.

"Okay." She drew up a large graph onto the screen. Along the bottom were numbers, beneath that was an official appearing 'CELLS' and the levels varied.

"These are all the power levels of the prisoners being kept here." Shadowcat explained, pointing to the left of the graph and along the side where numbers ranged from 0 to 100. The heading was 'POWER/ENERGY LEVEL'.

"Okay so...wait, that's a whole lot more than just our people." Pietro pointed out.

"They're not mutants, I checked the security cameras, the cells are completely empty, the readings are feeding off of the natural energy from the water turbines." Evan explained.

Shadowcat shook herself and snapped out of her daze, "Okay. Well, my guess is that the Professor is responsible for one of the higher levels, Scott's probably somewhere in the middle and Hank is around the lower section." Everyone nodded before she continued, "The one thing I can't get is this." She brought up a window with a password box alight. The top of the screen read 'Weapon X Program'.

"Weapon X...that mah dad!" Marie all but yelled.

"What?" everyone stared at her.

"Mah...mah dad, he was-"

"Experimented on." Kurt finished, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.

Rogue nodded, "That's how he got adamantium on his bones and why he doesn't remember anythan'. They took it all away."

"Damn it!" Kurt yelled, tail lashing.

"So these are the bastards that ruined Logan's past?" Wanda sounded furious.

"They have done way too much to get away with it." Kitty stated fiercely, showing a bit more of her temper.

Kurt stared at the screen, "Okay, here's the plan..."

oOo

Logan, through the haze of chemicals that ran rampant in his system, heard the soft, if quick, footsteps that were quickly approaching the laboratory. He felt a stab of worry for his kids, because he knew it could only be them racing towards possible death to save him, but at the same time his heart swelled with pride.

The scientist observing him saw Weapon X's lips upturn into a small grin and blinked a few times before the sound of hissing reached their ears. Everyone whipped around to stare at the door –the two foot thick steel door- as it turned red and slowly melted down into a puddle of molten goo.

Beyond the door stood six very pissed off looking teenagers.

One doctor, wearing glasses and balding, dropped his clipboard and ran for the exit. He had three young kids, nothing was worth dying and missing them growing up.

The other people in white coats on the other hand...

Logan felt his body get raised out of the tank of slime he'd been in. It was a clear, bluish chemical that smelled like chlorine and had the same consistency of jell-o, but he sunk through it as easy as settling into a tub of water, even if the chemical left no residue on his skin. The flat of metal he'd been resting on brought him up out of the goo and he shivered at the sudden onslaught of cold air. He sat up and climbed off the table shakily, glad that he was saved from embarrassment by wearing black shorts. From what he could remember, last time he'd been entirely nude.

He stumbled and was caught by his two sons, one with mocha skin, the other with blue fur. He smiled at the boys and allowed them to help him through the demolished room. He could see no bodies, but there were a few blood puddles here and there.

"Is everyone okay?" he rasped.

"Ve're all fine. Now come on, ve still have to find Jean, Scott, the Professor, Hank and Ororo." Kurt told him, soundly remarkably calm.

The entered the hall to find the rest of the little rescue group and he gave them all a proud smile as he was finally able to stand on his own. He clasped Evan's and Kurt's shoulders and squeezed them gently.

"Good job kids." Marie leapt on him and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back but their reunion was cut short as they had to continue on down the hall to another block of cells.

They still had the rest of the family to break out.

oOo


	20. Jail Breakout

Chapter 20: Jail Breakout

Disclaimers are getting repetitive. See the first chapter.

There was a screech of metal on metal and Ororo looked up only to see her cell door ripped from its hinges. She stood swiftly, fearing the worst, only to be impacted by the speeding blur that was her son rushing to hug her tightly.

"Evan!" her heart lifted as she embraced her nephew turned son. Spyke only hugged her tighter.

"'Ro, are you alright?" her husband's voice was heaven to her ears as she looked up to see the rest of her family, plus the twins and the K-team.

"I'm fine, what about you all?"

There were nods all around before a sharp siren split the air.

Kurt smiled to himself, "Looks like a party's about to start."

Logan sighed and brought out his claws with a '_snikt_', "This is gonna be interesting."

Wanda smirked, "Really? You'd think this would be a regular occurrence for you."

"It's good exercise." Logan offered as the sound of boots on metal reached their ears.

Kurt went down into a crouch and Ororo's eyes began glowing an ethereal white.

"Let the games begin." Kurt intoned.

oOo

Blood doesn't taste good. It has a thick consistency that dries fast and is still incredibly sticky, while sometimes it congeals and makes your hair stick together, or it will make everything slick and mess with your balance. Back to the taste: it has a copper-ish flavour that is bitter yet sweet to the tongue. Part of you wants to lick your lips to further investigate the flavour while the other side wants nothing more than to throw up until you have nothing remaining in your stomach.

That was the dilemma that was currently facing Kurt. Having dug his fangs into the shoulder of one of the soldiers attacking them, he could feel the hot liquid in his mouth and leaking down his throat, it wasn't a pleasant feeling and he felt his stomach toss, but he could do nothing more than shove the convulsing body of the guard away and spit the mouthful of blood out onto the floor that was already slick with the crimson stuff.

He instinctively ducked and twisted to punch his attacker in the gut. The uniformed human grunted in pain but brought the handle of his gun down on Kurt's shoulder –probably aiming for his head but missing- and Kurt yelped and flipped clumsily away. He had more bruises than he cared to count, and now it felt like his shoulder had been dislocated, perfect.

"Elf, duck!" Kurt did as ordered and a body flew over his head, impacted the metal wall, denting it slightly, and fell to the ground all in the span of five seconds. Kurt looked to see Logan fighting with at least ten guards.

~_They just keep coming! ~_ He thought desperately. If they didn't act fast, soon they'd all be dead.

His head ached from one too many hits and not enough sleep, his stomach flipped and convulsed from lack of food and blood being the only thing that had entered it in the last twenty four hours, his left shoulder ached and he couldn't feel the fingers in that hand, worrying him even more.

Then something creaked, loudly, ominously, dangerously, and making everyone –on both sides- freeze.

A louder groaning was heard and a soldier cursed, "The dams under pressure!" that caused any remaining guards to turn tail and run like hell.

"Oh, that's not good." Wanda muttered.

"We need to find the Professor." Ororo stated and they all exchanged looks before turning down the opposite way the soldiers had come from and starting their mad sprint down the concrete hallways.

"What could cause the dam to break?" Kitty asked in a panicked voice.

"Don't know, don't care, let's just get the hell out of here!" Logan growled from the front of the group.

Kurt could only follow after the group, something didn't feel right and it didn't have anything to do with his aching body.

His breath was coming in sharp pants now but he pushed forward, he could pass out later, when they were all safely out of this death labyrinth.

"Through here!" Logan called and he sliced through a metal door with his claws like it was rice paper.

"Go!" they scrambled through the door turned open can and entered a Cerebro look alike.

"Holy shit." Pietro stared around him in wonder.

"Where's the Professor?" Kitty asked, her voice worried.

It was true, the room was completely empty, but looked like some kind of run down and abused version of Cerebro.

"Hello. What are you looking for?"

They stared at a little girl that stood in the middle of the room, red hair reaching her ankles, eyes a foggy green and wearing a long grey dress, splattered liberally with red, but she didn't seem to notice.

"What are you looking for?" she repeated and Kurt was hit with sudden recognition.

"Jean?" he asked.

The little girl giggled, "Yes that's my name, who are you?"

Everyone blinked.

"What in God's name is going on?" Evan wondered aloud in a faint voice.

"Jean, cut it out! What the hell is going on?" Rogue growled.

"I don't know what you're talking about." 'Jean' replied calmly.

"Stryker. He's messed with her somehow, she's tricking us." Logan muttered, bringing out his claws.

"This is all a mirage." Evan realised, suddenly much more worried.

Kurt stared at the little girl, the mirage of Jean. She turned and made eye contact with him and her eyes flashed to a clear emerald green.

He clutched at his head and fell to his knees, crying out in agony as it felt like a thousand knives were being stabbed into his skull.

Kitty went to him immediately, fearing the worst and in a split second, everything went to hell.

Wind suddenly whipped through the room, bringing with it a biting cold and hard frost that stuck to everyone's skin and clothes. The little Jean mirage looked around her in fear and confusion before crying out and being blown away, as if she were part of the blizzard.

Storm cut off her powers and they suddenly saw the truth. Jean, Scott, Hank and the Professor were all in the middle of the room, coated in frost and shivering.

The Professor looked up tiredly and smiled, some sort of device was wrapped around his head, most likely blocking him from using his powers.

"I knew you could do it." He mumbled and Pietro raced forward and pulled the device off. Meanwhile Evan and Wanda released the others as Kitty cradled a now silent Kurt to her chest. Logan kneeled beside her and started looking the blue mutant over.

"Alright hold him still Kit; I need to get his arm back in place."

She did as she was told, but couldn't hide her wince as Logan shoved Kurt's shoulder back in its socket with a snap. Kurt convulsed and he opened his eyes with a sharp gasp of pain.

Kitty sighed in relief, "You okay?"

He nodded slowly, "I hate psychic attacks."

She kissed him softly and helped him stand as the others came forward, Wanda and Pietro supporting the Professor between them.

"We must hurry. Stryker got Jean to use a psychic blast on the dam; it's going to collapse any second." The Professor informed them, looking sadly at his red headed student in Scott's arms.

"Well we need to get moving then. Let's go!" Logan commanded and they were gone again, rushing down the halls as water leaked from the ceiling and they splashed through puddles spread liberally down the cement floors.

Logan led them at an inhuman pace, Pietro being the only one able to keep up, if he weren't helping the Professor.

"Come on, come on, come on..." Logan muttered over and over, searching for an escape.

In a sudden burst, a memory came to him and he led his family down a hall, towards an exit.

"Please, please, please, please..." he prayed he was right and nearly cried out ion relief when he saw an emergency exit ahead. His claws came out, ready to slash through and release them.

Then they ground shook as if a great explosion had taken place and everyone stumbled.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" Logan grabbed Ororo's arm and pulled her along as he rushed the rest of the way to the door and broke it down with his shoulder. Something snapped and cracked but he paid the pain no mind as he threw Ororo out and grabbed the next person to do the same. Eventually everyone was through and they scrambled up the small hill that met them.

"Keep going!" he ordered, pushing the kids forward to high ground.

Behind them they heard an ear shattering crash and adrenaline rushed through them as they made a final, sudden burst of speed to the trees ahead.

Kurt grabbed the two people beside him –Kitty and Marie- and ported them to the highest branches he could. He repeated the action, over and over until everyone was up, finally bamfing beside Kitty and grabbing onto her as exhaustion hit him like a wall.

Seconds later, white cresting waves of water hit the thick tree trunks, shaking them but none of the mutants were dislodged. They clung to each other and the trees as the water rushed by.

Kitty held Kurt as tight as possible, feeling Hank brace himself over them and press them up against the tree so they wouldn't slip.

Eventually the water died down to a calm flow and they opened their eyes to stare.

The base was completely obliterated, any people left inside were dead and they did the one logical thing:

They clung to each other even tighter.

oOo


	21. End of the Ride

Chapter 21: End of the Ride

Disclaimer: See previous chapter.

Kurt felt a gentle humming beneath him. He was lying on something smooth and flat, there were blankets laid over him and he could hear voices murmuring somewhere near him.

Shifting slightly he moaned in pain as his shoulder pulsed with pain.

"Kurt?" he heard Kitty's voice and felt her small hand caress his cheek.

He forced his eyes open and saw her worried face hovering over him. He smiled as much as he could, "Hey beautiful."

She giggled and kissed him softly.

"Vhere are we?"

She sat down, hand holding his, "On the X Jet, we got back to Marie's and-"

"How? I mean, how did ve get all the vay back vithout a problem?"

She smiled, "The Professor tricked the humans into not seeing the real you. We said we had been camping near Alkali Lake when the dam broke. With the way we're looking, it wasn't hard to believe."

"So...ve're okay?"

She smiled and nodded before kissing his cheek, "Yes Fuzzy Elf, we're fine." She brushed back his hair gently.

He took a deep breath and released it, finally relaxing, "Danke Gott."

Kitty sighed and rubbed the back of his knuckles with her thumb, "We're flying back to the mansion. The Professor and Ororo are going to Washington to plead our innocence."

"And vhat does that entail?"

She smiled slightly, "They had me sneak into Stryker's offices, luckily he had a house a few miles from the dam, guess he didn't want to be far away from his _projects_...anyways, I snuck in and found his files. They give us enough proof to be shown as the victims. He's also going to plead against being mutants."

"So, ve're going to have to be extra careful from now on." He squeezed her hand.

"Yep." They were silent for a few minutes.

"Katzchen is there any food in here? I'm starving."

That sufficiently broke the tense atmosphere and Kitty stood to grab some food.

"I love you Kurt." She told him, bringing back a large amount of food.

Kurt sat up with some effort and grinned back, "I love you too my Katzchen."

oOo

"Marie?"

The Goth turned in her seat to see Pietro hovering behind her, looking nervous for some reason.

"Hey Silver." She gave him a smile.

Almost nervously, he sat beside her, but not touching her, "Are you okay?"

She thought the question over, "Yeah, I think I am."

He smiled softly, "Is it safe to kiss you then?"

She giggled and took off her glove to take his hand, feeling no pull from her mutation, "Yeah, it is."

He grinned, "Thank God!" her giggles were cut off by his mouth covering hers and she felt herself ease into a state of bliss.

Logan watched the young couple with an observant eye.

"Logan, honey, it's okay." Ororo's arms came around his shoulders, her head lying on his shoulder.

He sighed, "I know darlin'...it's just hard to see my little girl all grown up."

She kissed his cheek, "I know...but she's got you and two brothers watching out for her, everything's going to be alright."

Logan nodded, "How is the Elf?"

"Doing fine. He's awake and Kitty gave him something to eat. Everything's going to be _okay_, Logan." She squeezed his shoulders to accent the point.

He turned his head to smile at her. Even covered in grime and with her hair in disarray, she was as beautiful as the day she walked down the aisle.

"I love you, 'Ro."

She blinked away tears, while she knew Logan loved her, he hardly said it, "I love you too." She kissed him softly on the lips, distracting him from further thoughts.

oOo

Hank checked and double checked the tests he'd run on each of the X Men once they were back in the mansion. He'd taken particular care with those who had been captured and tested, but he'd found no anomalies in any of their blood or DNA. Although he'd found it very interesting to study and compare their blood samples. What could he say: he was a scientist at heart.

"Anything Hank?" Charles rolled into the lab in a new wheelchair, appearing exhausted but much more at ease than before.

"Nothing Charles. Everyone is in the clear."

The Professor smiled at his long time friend, "Thank you Hank. I'm going to call the children together and give them all the good news."

"They aren't exactly kids anymore, Charles." Hank reminded him as the elderly mutant started to leave; already knowing all the news that was going to be bestowed upon the students.

Charles stopped in the doorway, and without turning replied to the mansion's other blue mutant.

"I know."

oOo

The X Men got together in the Professor's study, all looking exhausted and worn out; still without sleep from worry over what the future held.

Charles gave them all a smile, "The President has revoked all charges against us, and we are free of enquiry on being mutants."

He had expected them to cheer but instead he got an entirely different reaction.

Kurt toppled over and fell asleep with his head pillowed on Kitty's lap, Marie stretched out over Pietro and Evan who leaned on the people beside them, Wanda leaning against Pietro in turn and Kitty leaning against Evan. Ororo dropped onto Logan's lap in an arm chair while Jean mirrored her actions on the other side of the room with Scott and in several seconds everyone was fast asleep.

"Well..." the Professor was without words and instead shook his head in amazement and chuckled to himself before rolling out of the study.

It was about time the roller coaster they'd been on stopped.

oOo

**IMPORTANT** A/N: And we have come to the end of the sequel. I hope you guys enjoyed it. But now, I have some sad news for you so I hope you're reading this.

I am taking a break from writing X Men fanfiction. My interests have changed over the last year or so and what once interested me doesn't really anymore. So, while I am going to try and finish all the stories I have going now, don't expect anything new.

However, I will still enjoy reading every single review I get from you, my lovely readers. As some of you have been with me since I started writing over two years ago, I thank you. You have kept me going through good times and bad and I hold you all in a special place in my heart.

And so, in this aptly named chapter, I bid you adieu.

Love Shadow


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